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Colorado Tax Data Raises Questions About Calls For Higher Taxes On Wealthy
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, State

Colorado Tax Data Raises Questions About Calls For Higher Taxes On Wealthy

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Colorado’s “rich” are already paying a lot (A LOT) Tax Day, both the day when tax returns are due and the day at which you have worked enough to pay your taxes (and start working for yourself) recently passed. Around that date I saw something online giving a breakdown of Federal tax receipts vs. income group and it got me thinking about Colorado’s tax receipts vs. income. After doing some digging I have some data to share, and, as the top line here suggests, the “rich” in Colorado are already paying quite a bit. Certainly a giant percent of state revenue compared to how many filers there are. As I’ll show below, if you look at the percentage of total tax receipts vs. the percentage of taxpayers ...
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Colorado Drivers Feel Economic Squeeze As Gas Nears $4.50 Per Gallon
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Drivers Feel Economic Squeeze As Gas Nears $4.50 Per Gallon

By Tamara Chuang | The Colorado Sun It’s even more painful for truckers and ride-sharing drivers. Many are contractors who are paying out of pocket to fuel up. Before Feb. 28, Kareem Sawadogo paid about $40 to fill up his tank. Now, it’s over $65, said Sawadogo, a driver for both Lyft and Uber. And if he’s driving full time, which is 40 to 60 hours a week, he must fill up daily. Combine the higher cost of gas with the rising prices of auto insurance and car maintenance, and it seems cheaper to just park his car.  “If you do the math, 30 times seven, that extra is a lot of money,” said Sawadogo, who’s taken on another job — organizing for the Colorado Independent Drivers United, which estimates there are 41,000 ridesharing drivers in the state. “I cannot a...
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$100K Income Now Falls Into Lower Middle Class Bracket In Colorado
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kdvr.com, Approved, State

$100K Income Now Falls Into Lower Middle Class Bracket In Colorado

By Alix Martichoux | KDVR (NEXSTAR) – A six-figure income used to be shorthand for “rich.” Now, it’s barely enough to get by in many parts of the country, including Colorado. And it’s not just California and New York where families are feeling the pinch. The rising cost of housing, childcare, groceries – and well, just about everything – has stretched households’ income further and further. Even big earners have found themselves living paycheck to paycheck. In a dozen states, a household income topping $100,000 isn’t considered particularly high. When compared to other earners, it’s actually considered “lower-middle class,” according to an analysis by MoneyLion. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT KDVR
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Federal lease sale brings $8 million boost as Colorado energy shifts to Washington-controlled land
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Federal lease sale brings $8 million boost as Colorado energy shifts to Washington-controlled land

By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) quarterly oil and gas lease sale in Colorado generated over $8 million, the most successful such sale the federal lands agency has enjoyed in recent years. The BLM, as well as energy policy experts credit the successful lease sale in large part to the Trump administration’s pro-energy production policies. According to its recent press release, the BLM on March 31 leased 68 parcels of federal land for drilling in Colorado, generating $8.1 million. Over 42,000 acres were leased across Weld, Jackson, Routt, Arapahoe, Delta, Mesa, Rio Blanco, Gunnison, and Garfield counties. This sale was conducted with lower royalties embedded in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), which reduced th...
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Gov. Polis Seeks Answers As Colorado’s Largest Publicly Traded Company Leaves for Florida
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Gov. Polis Seeks Answers As Colorado’s Largest Publicly Traded Company Leaves for Florida

By Tamara Chuang | The Colorado Sun Valued at $300B, Palantir was the largest publicly traded company in Colorado. CEO Alex Karp recently bought a monastery in Old Snowmass. Palantir Technologies, a government contractor known for mass surveillance technology aided by artificial intelligence, has moved its headquarters out of Denver in favor of the Miami area, the company said Tuesday in a post on X.com.  The company left Palo Alto, California, in 2020 to move to Denver. Founded by billionaire Peter Thiel and its CEO Alex Karp, Palantir was in the news this month after activists behind the “Purge Palantir” database publicized the company’s donations to two of Colorado’s Democratic members of Congress. U.S. Rep. Jason Crow of Aurora and Sen. John Hickenlooper ...
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Trump Unveils $1,776 Warrior Dividend for Servicemembers in National Address
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Washington Examiner, Approved, National

Trump Unveils $1,776 Warrior Dividend for Servicemembers in National Address

By Christian Datoc | Washington Examiner President Donald Trump delivered an end-of-year address to the nation on Wednesday night, the vast majority of which consisted of him repeating attacks on his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, as he sought to once again tie him to affordability concerns among voters. Eleven months after re-entering office with virtually the highest approval rating of his political career, the president finds himself having lost significant support from voters, specifically regarding his stewardship of financial matters, as the president’s tariffs maintain inflationary pressure on consumer markets. A poll published Tuesday by Reuters found that just 33% of respondents gave Trump’s economic policies a passing grade, down 10 poi...
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Denver’s Inflation Rate Leads Nation Despite Cooling Elsewhere
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kdvr.com, Approved, Local

Denver’s Inflation Rate Leads Nation Despite Cooling Elsewhere

By: Brooke Williams | KDVR FOX31 DENVER (KDVR) — Denver has some of the worst inflation problems of large metropolitan areas across the nation, according to new data. Personal finance website WalletHub released a study showing the changes in inflation for 23 major metropolitan statistical areas across the U.S., with the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood metro area having some of the biggest inflation problems. Nationwide, the rate of inflation sits at 3% as of September. WalletHub said factors like the war in Ukraine, labor shortages and recent tariffs drive inflation higher than the target rate of 2%. The study focused on the changes in inflation over the last year and the last few months. Highest Consumer Price Index change – Latest month vs two months before The study, ...
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Denver’s Cost of Comfort: $130k Needed Just to Get By
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Fox31, Approved, Local

Denver’s Cost of Comfort: $130k Needed Just to Get By

By Brooke Williams | Fox31 DENVER (KDVR) — Two Colorado cities are among the most expensive big cities in the U.S. to live comfortably in, a recent study found. Finance website GOBankingRates analyzed the country’s 50 largest cities to determine how much it would cost to live in each comfortably based on data points like home values, incomes and cost of living.4 Colorado towns listed among best small cities in US: Report The study calculated the income for necessities and applied the 50/30/20 budget rule, doubling the cost of necessities for a lifestyle that can include saving and discretionary spending. The Mile High City ranked as the No. 12 most expensive large city to live comfortably in. Meanwhile down south, Colorado Springs ranked at No. 20 12. Denver To...
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Gold Card residency rewards those investing in America, not exploiting it
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American Thinker, Approved, Commentary, National

Gold Card residency rewards those investing in America, not exploiting it

By Brian C. Joondeph | Commentary, American Thinker President Donald Trump’s two recent executive orders, one imposing a $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visas and the other launching the “Gold Card” fast-track residency program, represent the most significant immigration reforms in decades.  Image by ChatGPT They flip the incentive structure that has for years favored multinational corporations and global outsourcing firms over American workers, while also tackling long-ignored national security risks. As a policy, open borders is one area where Democrats and many Republicans agree. Democrats want new voters, while the Chamber of Commerce and Wall Street Journal Republicans want cheap labor. President George W. Bush, backed by Senator John McCain, in 2007, pushed for “comp...
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Has AI Begun Transforming Employment in the Colorado Legal Services Industry?
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Has AI Begun Transforming Employment in the Colorado Legal Services Industry?

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The two biggest ongoing threats to democracy in Colorado are the less-than-competent Secretary of State, Jena Griswold, and Colorado’s Supreme Court. You will recall that last year both blocked the inclusion of Donald Trump’s name on the November 2024 presidential ballot in Colorado only to have the nation’s Supreme Court definitively overrule both. I didn’t notice anyone getting into trouble or apologizing for those blatant attacks on democracy but it managed to get me thinking (no mean feat) about the legal profession in general and whether it was changing in Colorado in the face of artificial intelligence (AI). Admittedly, I’m personally not a big fan of AI because, just like history, it is crafted by the victors / the ...
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