Today, Liberal Loon Carol Hedges, Executive Director of the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI), announced over an email that she was withdrawing her six tax increase initiatives over a lack of support from leaders in Colorado and bad polling data. We predicted this demise over a week ago. 



Now, Carol, you should have emailed us. We could have saved you untold time and money by letting you know that there was ZERO chance a tax increase was going to pass in this economy. Or you could have listened to Democrat Governor John Hickenlooper who was saying the same thing. 

But maybe he hurt your feelings with the budget cuts and you weren't in the mood to listen to him. 

While Hedges' tax increase nonsense is now off the ballot, Rollie Heath's tax increase initiatives are still moving forward. We expect, and also predicted last week, that Carol Hedges and her asylum of loons at FPI will now throw their weight behind Heath's proposal.

So this battle is not over — it's just down to one initiative.

Of interest now: how soon will it be before the Denver business community starts to contemplate a tax hike sell out? We will be watching, and ready to pounce.

 

Her full retreat, we mean email, is after the jump.

We actually didn’t receive this email directly, as FPI apparently hasn’t appreciated our commentary on their tax hikes and decided to remove us from their email list. But thankfully a reader passed it along to us.

Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute withdraws measures to create graduated income tax

The Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute has withdrawn measures to establish a graduated income tax in Colorado from the process for establishing ballot initiatives in the November 2011 election.

“As much as we believe Colorado needs swift action to address its fiscal challenges and stop the cycle of damaging cuts to our public services, these measures were not able to gather the broad support needed to move to the ballot in 2011,” said Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute Director Carol Hedges. “People across the state have been discussing how to preserve the things that make Colorado a great place to live. Coloradoans need to continue those discussions and more people need to be involved in finding solutions to attract the broadest possible support.”

The Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute filed six measures with the state Title Board — one of the early steps in the process for deciding the content of election ballots. The agency filed multiple measures to test how creating a graduated income tax would work with state limitations on ballot measures. Election authorities set titles for all six measures. By withdrawing the measures, the Fiscal Policy Institute signals to the Title Board that it will not pursue subsequent steps for qualifying the measures for the 2011 ballot.

“Experts from across the political spectrum understand our state’s fiscal mess is not temporary or just a result of an economic downturn – it’s structural, and we need to make fundamental shifts in how we fund public services,” Hedges said. “We will continue to work with a broad coalition to identify structural solutions that provide adequate, sustainable and equitable investments in our communities. No one should be left out of this discussion. All Coloradans must give sustained attention to solving these problems: business leaders, police officers, faith community representatives, union  members, civil rights activists, parents, senior citizens, academics and more. Colorado is a great place to live, do business and raise a family, and we can keep it great by showing real commitment to our state’s future. Colorado is worth it.”

The Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute is a project of the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and advocacy organization seeking justice and economic security for all Coloradans.

Media contact: Perry Swanson

Communications director

Mobile: 719-232-4458