After pressure from basically everyone including some in their caucus, Democrats have scrapped plans to impose a tax fee for paid family leave to every worker and employer in Colorado in favor studying the issue. This is a huge defeat for Democrats who positioned this bill as a centerpiece of their legislative agenda – and for those Democrats who campaigned on promises to pass this legislation. Or, as Bernie Sanders’ mouthpiece put it:
Colorado Democrats made paid family leave a centerpiece of their 2018 campaign, and they were rewarded with the biggest electoral landslide in decades. And yet only a few months later, their legislation has been defeated by the corporate lobby. Not good. https://t.co/JHVU5b9snm
— David Sirota (@davidsirota) April 24, 2019
We disagree that the electorate put these guys in office because of this policy, but it’s a bad look for them, nonetheless.
Democrat Sen. Faith Winter, a sponsor of the legislation, accused opponents of offering amendments based on hyperbole, according to the Denver Post, which got the exclusive scoop. What’s more likely here is that Winter, like so many of her colleagues this year, is refusing to believe the economic realities of bad public policy, which has been a theme at the legislature this year.
First, the program is a tax. Bottom line. Not a fee. So, it would need to go to a vote of the people. Second, the fund would have been ripe for fraud. Third, the fund itself would not have been financially sound, which has never stopped Democrats before, but who’s counting.
The study is scheduled to be completed in time to make recommendations for a 2023 start date for the program. This was bad policy that deserved to die a painful death. After being laid over for what seemed like an eternity, it appears as though it has.
Consider this a strike against the efficacy of Winter and evidence that she cannot handle complex financial topics.