taxpayer bill of rights
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Crowder on tweaking TABOR: Rural Coloradans would rather have a hospital than a $45 tax refund
It was a tax bill bound to make a splash, even though it was all but doomed from the start not to pass into law. It was a Republican proposal meant to tweak the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR, a constitutional amendment that caps taxing and spending in the state and sacrosanct public policy…
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Transportation funding, fix to construction problems top House agenda
House Democrats and Republicans agree that two matters are likely to dominate discussion in the chamber during the upcoming legislative session, although they disagree about how to refer to one of them. Along with funding the state’s transportation needs, House lawmakers from both sides of the aisle told The Colorado Statesman recently that tackling the…
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Blake: Single-subject rule is too limiting
It’s a good thing the Founding Fathers didn’t have to run the First Amendment by the Colorado Supreme Court before sending it out to the states for ratification. Our justices would have rejected it on grounds it violates the single-subject rule. Does it ever. The amendment, a single 45-word sentence, contains not one, not two,…
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Caldara: Independence Institute works to build ‘Freedom Embassy’
More than three decades after its founding, the Independence Institute has grown from a free-market think tank into what Jon Caldara, its president of 17 years, calls Colorado’s “Freedom Embassy,” bringing together the state’s disparate right-leaning organizations – including those representing wings of the movement that aren’t natural allies – into a place where he…
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Boulder residents challenge ballot initiative to tax soda
A citizens group is challenging the validity of a citizen ballot initiative that proposes an excise tax on soda and other sugary drinks. The Daily Camera reports that Mark Gelband, with the backing of the Colorado Beverage Association, is arguing that the coalition Healthy Boulder Kids did not use accurate language in its ballot petition to have…
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Silverii: No, Medicaid isn’t busting Colorado’s budget
There’s a terrible myth that has captured the minds of most right-wing politicians in Colorado and and has even been perpetuated in guest commentaries in this paper. The myth is that, somehow, ensuring that sick kids, people with disabilities and low-income women have access to healthcare is the reason our state budget faces annual challenges. Not the…
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Backers kill ballot measure to lift TABOR revenue caps
Supporters of a state ballot measure to set a 10-year time-out on TABOR revenue restrictions called it quits Tuesday, blaming what could be a crowded fall ballot, the high cost of getting across a complicated argument to voters and an “uncertain political climate.” “In November, Colorado voters are going to be asked to decide on up…
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Fields: The ‘Frightening Four’ Colorado ballot issues
In 2015, Susan Ricks hit the jackpot – literally. After winning $250,000 from the Illinois Lottery, Susan planned on cutting back on her seven-day-a-week work schedule, fixing up her house, and visiting her daughter in Minnesota. That was until the state of Illinois sent her an IOU instead of her winnings. Why? Because the state…
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Blake: Bending over backwards for the unaffiliated voter
The group that would make it even easier for unaffiliated voters to participate in Colorado’s primary elections is circulating two different initiatives – an unusual move. One, currently called No. 98, would open the current primary – held on the last Tuesday in June – to all unaffiliated voters; the other, No. 140, would restore…