The 2013 statewide ballot measure, Amendment 66, went down in flames – losing almost 2:1 – in spite of $12 million in special interest money poured into its coffers, including money from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Now, the Denver Post is reporting that the Democrats want another bite at the apple, and have been collecting signatures to get a similar, massive tax increase on the ballot.
Amendment 66 would have raided taxpayer wallets to the tune of $1 billion per year by raising the state’s flat 4.63% income tax to 5% on the first $75,000, and 5.9% on amounts above that. Obviously this would have resulted in a massive income tax increase on Colorado working families, who soundly defeated the measure. And, for what? We have no idea. Edumacashun or something. Maybe. Probably not.
The reprise of this terrible idea is almost a double-down on the failed 2013 measure. The proposal seeks a tiered state income tax schedule that even more drastically punishes Colorado’s most productive employees and job creators, trying to drain an additional $1.7 billion per year from worker paychecks.
We expect this measure to be obliterated at the ballot box, just as its parent was laid to waste by sensible Coloradans. A major part of the economic growth that our state has experienced in the past several years is directly related to its tax structure – which is rather benign compared to many overtaxed coastal states. And thanks to TABOR, we can rest assured that the ultimate arbiter of these decisions will be the people who will actually foot the bill – as it should be.