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Tag: Initiative 195

Two measures. Two opposite answers. One Colorado income tax rate.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Two measures. Two opposite answers. One Colorado income tax rate.

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado voters may face a choice in November between two measures that couldn't disagree more about the state income tax. One would replace the flat rate with a graduated system and raise close to $2 billion a year. The other would make it illegal to raise the rate at all. Neither one is a new idea. And the differences between them go deeper than the rate. What each one does Colorado's income tax has been flat since 1987, meaning everyone pays the same percentage regardless of what they earn. The rate is currently 4.40 percent. Initiative 195, backed by a coalition led by the Bell Policy Center, would replace that with six brackets.  The Legislative Council Staff, which produces nonpartisan fiscal analys...
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Colorado SNAP Error Rate Could Leave Taxpayers Paying Millions More
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado SNAP Error Rate Could Leave Taxpayers Paying Millions More

By: Logan McCahill | Complete Colorado For the first time since the Great Recession, 1 in 10 Coloradans are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly known as food stamps. The federally subsidized program provides families below a government-established income level with food benefits to help with grocery bills. Starting in October of 2027, Colorado will begin paying a share of these benefits due to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The amount taxpayers will owe depends on how many people participate in SNAP and how accurately the state processes them, both of which are growing issues for Colorado.   Rising enrollment Between 2020 and 2025, SNAP enrollment grew more than six times faster than Col...
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If more education spending works, why not require proof?
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

If more education spending works, why not require proof?

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project This coming November voters will be deciding on Proposition NN and possibly Initiative 195, the former being a referred measure by our state legislature and the latter a ballot initiative which as of this writing was out for signatures with no definitive answer on whether it will be on the ballot yet. Both measures are of the type I like to label with “won’t someone think of the children?!” That is, both of them are geared emotionally to tap into the completely natural desire to help children. The thing is, there are some problems with the reasoning in both. To demonstrate, I will lean heavily on the well-written op ed about education funding from one of the interns at the Independence Institute (as well a...
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Colorado Health Care Costs Keep Climbing Despite Growing State Subsidies
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado Health Care Costs Keep Climbing Despite Growing State Subsidies

By: Nash Herman | Commentary, Complete Colorado In economics, it is well understood that the larger a business becomes, the more cheaply it can produce goods or services due to lower relative fixed costs, more technical know-how, and increased specialization.  Why then is Colorado’s largest industry in terms of employment–health care–only becoming more expensive?  Subsidies inflate costs Let’s back up. In 1990, Colorado’s largest industry by employment was retail, which also dominated most of the rest of the country’s employment as well, along with manufacturing.  Along the way retail and manufactured goods became cheaper for consumers, as expected, relative to inflation.  READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT COMPLETE COLORADO ...
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Medicaid Commission Begins Review as Colorado Spending Continues to Climb
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Medicaid Commission Begins Review as Colorado Spending Continues to Climb

By: Nash Herman | Complete Colorado Colorado’s interim Commission on Medicaid has begun meeting to address the explosive growth of the state’s health care spending.  Related concerns are also on the table, such as the management of the Department of Healthcare Policy and Financing (HCPF) and fraud, waste, and abuse.  Are legislators attacking these problems from the correct angles? Let’s find out.  Faulty premises The most recent Commission meeting raised questions about the government’s priorities in addressing Medicaid and the state budget.  A recurring theme of discussion —nothing new, yet one that actually exacerbates the very problem the Commission is attempting to address — is the idea that the health care fun...
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Initiative 195 would raise taxes on Colorado’s top earners. A new report asks whether they’d stay.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Initiative 195 would raise taxes on Colorado’s top earners. A new report asks whether they’d stay.

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The income tax on a Colorado household earning under $25,000 would fall by $9 a year under Initiative 195. A filer reporting between $2 million and $5 million would pay about $13,914 more. Both figures come from the measure's certified ballot title. The Common Sense Institute, a free-market policy group in Greenwood Village, says that second household is also the one most likely to pack up and leave Colorado, and that the state would lose part of the revenue the tax is supposed to bring in right along with it. Initiative 195 would end Colorado's flat income tax. The state taxed income on a graduated scale for its first 50 years, then switched in 1987 to a single rate, now 4.4 percent, that applies to every earner.  In its place, 1...
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