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Montana Looks To Colorado’s Flat Tax Legacy As Colorado Debates Progressive Alternative
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Montana Looks To Colorado’s Flat Tax Legacy As Colorado Debates Progressive Alternative

By Nash Herman | Complete Colorado While Montana is poised to learn from the flat tax success stories of Colorado and other Western states, the push for a progressive income tax in Colorado threatens the very policies that made the state successful in the first place.  Some history  Colorado and Montana both implemented progressive individual income taxes in the 1930s during the Great Depression.   However, Colorado was one of the first states to join the “flat tax revolution” when it implemented a single flat rate of 5 percent for all incomes in 1987.  Then, through rate cuts at the turn of the century and Independence Institute-led Propositions 116 and 121 in 2020 and 2022, Colorado lowere...
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Colorado Voters To Decide Whether To Cap State Income Tax At 4.4%
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Voters To Decide Whether To Cap State Income Tax At 4.4%

By Thelma Grimes | Colorado Politics Election officials on Thursday confirmed that the proposal to cap the state’s income tax at the current rate submitted signatures and voters will consequently decide its fate this November. The fight over tax rates is part of the tug and pull in Colorado between opposing political forces feuding over state revenue. One side of that fight argues that Colorado isn’t generating enough revenue to spend on state priorities, such as education. The competing side counters that the state already collects enough — but policymakers’ spending priorities are misplaced. The Secretary of State’s Office on Thursday cleared Initiative No. 232 after Advance Colorado, the group behind it, submitted more than 184,000 signatures to get it on the b...
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Colorado Progressive Tax Plan Raises Long-Term Bracket Creep Concerns
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Progressive Tax Plan Raises Long-Term Bracket Creep Concerns

By Nash Herman | Complete Colorado Proponents of a progressive state income tax claim that it will give most Coloradans a break on their taxes.   Those familiar with history, inflation, and bracket creep see a much different long-term picture.   Repeating history The US adopted a federal income tax in 1913, justified by the claim that only about one percent of the population would pay the tax in its earliest years.  Does this sound familiar?   Proponents of Initiative 195, the ballot measure to switch Colorado’s 4.4 percent flat income tax rate to a progressive tax, are adamant that the measure is fair because 97 percent of filers will receive a tax cut.  READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT COMPLETE COLORAD...
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Colorado Graduated Income Tax Proposal Heads to Signature Review
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Graduated Income Tax Proposal Heads to Signature Review

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics The measure, which eliminates Colorado’s flat tax, is expected to raise $2 billion in new revenue The proposal to amend the Colorado constitution to change the state’s flat rate into a graduated income tax came in under the wire Monday, the deadline for groups to turn in petition signatures for November’s ballot, setting up a high-stakes battle over revenue. Backers of the graduated tax proposal — which would marginally decrease the tax liability for the lower ends of the new bracket, while raising taxes for others — turned in 157,000 signatures with about an hour to go before the 5 p.m. deadline. The proposal, if approved at the ballot box, is expected to generate $2 billion more in tax revenue for the state. Doze...
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Colorado Schools Receive $24 Million to Expand Free Meals Program
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Schools Receive $24 Million to Expand Free Meals Program

By: Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics The Colorado Department of Education is providing Colorado schools with nearly $24 million in grant funding to implement a free lunch program. Approved by voters in 2022, the Healthy School Meals for All provides free breakfast and lunch to all public school students in the state, as well as wage increases for cafeteria staff. The program is funded through a tax increase on households making more than $300,000 a year. Because initial estimates fell short of the actual costs, the program ran into fiscal challenges right from the start and had never been deployed in its entirety. A pair of ballot measures approved by voters last year allows the state to keep additional revenue and interest from income tax deductions to help pay f...
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Luxury Car Owners Use Montana LLCs to Sidestep Colorado Registration Costs
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Luxury Car Owners Use Montana LLCs to Sidestep Colorado Registration Costs

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Coloradans looking to avoid high vehicle registration fees have increasingly turned to what’s known as the “Montana loophole” — a strategy that surfaced recently at a luxury car event near the Cherry Creek Mall. Here’s how it works. A Colorado resident buys a high-end vehicle — anything from a large recreational vehicle to a supercar like a 2022 McLaren 765LT Spider, which was recently listed in Boulder for more than $1 million. The buyer then forms a limited liability company in Montana, a service some firms advertise for about $1,000, and registers the vehicle under that LLC. The vehicle is still owned, maintained and driven in Colorado, meaning it uses state roads and services here. But because it’s registered to an o...
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Polis Warns Socialism Could Destroy Colorado
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Polis Warns Socialism Could Destroy Colorado

By: The Denver Gazette | The Denver Gazette The ideological divide within the Colorado Democratic Party once more burst into the open on Wednesday when Gov. Jared Polis responded to a legislator’s criticism by referencing Zimbabwe’s socialist experiment. “Thanks to socialism, the average Zimbabwean became a trillionaire,” the governor posted on X, using his personal account, referring to the oft-repeated sarcastic jab at the African nation, which experienced one of the worst inflationary arcs in history under Robert Mugabe. Polis was responding to Rep. Yara Zokaie, D-Fort Collins, who said the governor is scared of socialists because of his wealth. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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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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Transportation Funding Showdown Continues Between Lawmakers And Initiative Backers
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Transportation Funding Showdown Continues Between Lawmakers And Initiative Backers

By: Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics The standoff over Colorado’s road‑funding initiative will continue after supporters declined state lawmakers’ request to withdraw the measure, while both sides signaled they are still willing to pursue a broader agreement ahead of the fall deadline. Initiative No. 175, backed by the coalition Restore Our Roads, would require that all transportation-related revenue be used exclusively for building and repairing roads and bridges, improving safety, conducting transportation planning and engineering, and supporting Colorado State Patrol operations. A petition for the measure received over 180,000 signatures and is currently being reviewed by the Secretary of State’s Office. To qualify for the November ballot, just over 124,000 of ...
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Colorado protected school funding without touching TABOR refunds. Now it wants those too.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado protected school funding without touching TABOR refunds. Now it wants those too.

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Last session, the Colorado General Assembly passed a bill asking voters to waive their TABOR refunds to fund education.  The ballot title calls it "without raising taxes." No rates change.  But it asks Coloradans to let the state keep money the constitution currently requires it to give back, and it comes one year after the legislature moved more than $200 million into a protected school account without touching anyone's refund at all. The two moves address the same problem. They work very differently. What the legislature did first In 2025, tucked inside HB25-1320, the School Finance Act, a Senate Appropriations Committee amendment drafted by Sen. Kolker (D) and Sen. Kirkmeyer (R), created something...
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