Colorado

Taxpayers who are new to the state of Colorado often get confused about how the state budget works here. That's because lucky Colorado is the only state in the Union to have something called "TABOR" or Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. TABOR requires that a significant amount of the state's income that is derived from taxes must be refunded to the taxpayers - no matter what the state's needs for infrastructure, education or health care may happen to be.

What I've been most enjoying about the current Colorado State Legislatures' antics is the protests and controversy raised by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative organization that blocked legislative attempts in recent years to increase spending. Except this year in a rare moment of bi-partisan agreement, the legislature has come up with a bill that would put a request for a tax hike to go to the improvement of Colorado's infrastructure to be placed before the Colorado voter - yay or nay. If I recall correctly, if Colorado voters approve this new tax, it would mean that Coloradans would pay an extra $6.00 in taxes for every $3,000.00 they spend. Oh, the horror of it all! How dare the legislature attempt to unclog Denver's ever more crowded Interstates or fix a pot hole over in Grand Junction when the voters have already approved that this is a reasonable and much needed source for financing infrastructure improvement. Americans for Prosperity have been squalling like scalded cats - we can even hear their shrieks from Denver 400 miles across the state where I live. According to the Americans for a Third World Country (as I like to call them) it represents a tax hike — a 21 percent increase in the state sales tax.

“Coloradans want the legislature to prioritize the state budget – not raise taxes,” said Michael Fields, the organization’s state director. “Despite publicly saying that a proposal would be revenue neutral in the first year, Senate leadership is now supporting a $677 tax increase in year one.”

Tisk, tisk. Fields neglects to mention that his gang who can't think straight want to take the money from Colorado's health care budget instead - especially Medicaid and health care financing for rural Colorado where the economy is nowhere near as bright as that of Denver. So, there you have it. The Cons are just as insane at the state level as the national one. But then we all knew that one already.