The Colorado chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business, an organization that serves as an advocate for small businesses, released the results of a vote it took among its members about Amendment 66. The results were clear – its membership wanted the group to take a position on Amendment 66 and that position should be against passing the billion dollar tax increase.
According to the press release, the group kept the questions short and sweet – should NFIB take a position on the tax hike and what should that position be? Eight six percent of its respondents said the organizations should take a position. Then, the members were asked “if so, should NFIB support it?” Just 4% of respondents said NFIB should support the tax hike, a whopping 96% said NFIB should come out against it. Colorado state director of NFIB, Tony Gagliardi, explained the negative response from his members:
“In addition to it being a very bad time to raise taxes, as the climb out of the Great Recession is still a slow one, there is much to distrust about Amendment 66. The teachers’ unions backing this ballot measure claim it’s to help finance the reforms contained in Senate Bill 191, while at the same time they are trying to gut an important reform contained in the law. Furthermore, the new dual rate structure on state income taxes called for in Amendment 66 could lead to an end run around the state’s TABOR (Taxpayer Bill of Rights) law. Amendment 66 is planted with too many landmines for the taxpayer, and we will work for its defeat.”
NFIB has 7,500 members in Colorado. With many of Colorado’s small businesses paying taxes as individuals, it’s not surprising that they’re resisting the state’s largest income tax hike. Let’s remember this firm opposition when Amendment 66 proponents try to claim that businesses support this. There are a few Democratic big businesses who support this initiative. But, small businesses, the backbone of Colorado’s economy, clearly do not support this.