Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released their state-by-state results for 2012 GDP. Colorado clocked in at 2.1 percent, lagging the nation as a whole and only topping Montana and Wyoming in the Rocky Mountain Region. With the state’s strong economic tailwinds of the oil and gas and technology industries, this performance is unacceptable, and when looking at the totality of this situation, it is difficult to ignore the harmful business policies promoted by Governor Hickenlooper and the Democrat-controlled legislature.
In terms of a state’s business policies, Colorado stands in stark contrast to our neighbor to the west, Utah, where lawmakers are serious about setting the conditions for economic success. Utah ranked third this year in the US Chamber of Commerce Enterprising States Study, where it was the only state to register in the top ten of all five business attributes that were covered by the study.
Our state’s deep bench of anti-growth Democrat lawmakers, backed by a confederation wing-nut environmentalists, worked to throw roadblocks up against the oil and gas industry and other job creators throughout the entire 2013 legislative session.
When Magpul and HiViz made it perfectly clear that they would leave the state if the meaningless magazine ban legislation was signed into law, the Dems did not think twice about ramming it through, and Hickenlooper signed it.
When high growth states such as Texas and Tennessee announce to every job creator they can find that they have no state income tax, Colorado Democrats put a measure on the ballot this November to increase income taxes by $1 billion, and the University of Colorado is sending up trial balloons about raising taxes on all Coloradans to make up for its below-average alumni fundraising program.
Colorado should be standing side by side with the highest growth states in the nation. Instead, an out of control Democrat legislature abetted by a sympathetic governor have demonstrated a destructive path for this state. At this point, these people do not need to be negotiated with or persuaded. They need to be defeated.
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