Grandpa Polis has new political gimmick for newborn babies and their parents.
He’s tearing $100 bills in half and throwing it in their faces while promising to deliver the other half if the kid goes to college — at which time it should cover the cost of a night out at McDonalds.
The political stunt gives Gov. Polis an “accomplishment” to brag about in addition to his centerpiece achievement of “free” kindergarten — the latter completely paid for with our tax dollars.
Shifting Colorado from the nanny state to the Grandpa state with college tuition seed accounts with private funding will also requires taxpayer dollars to help spend it.
Here’s how the bill signed into law by Polis works:
Parents open a special bank account when the child turns five and $100 is deposited to accrue interest.
If the child goes to college, the full $120 it likely accumulated can be put towards their million dollar tuition costs — our expectation of what college will cost in 20 years.
The seed money is coming from the $3.4 million CollegeInvest scholarship fund, which operates with private funds independently within the state’s Higher Education Department.
Under the new law, the state must implement a “robust marketing and outreach plan” to let parents known about their accounts. Parents can add to the account and receive federal and state income tax deductions when they do.
See? It’s the college account usually set up by parents or grandparents upon a child’s birth, to get tax deductions already available.
Only now, taxpayers have to pay the cost of promoting the CollegeInvest scholarship fund.That’s in addition to whatever it already costs the department to manage the program and exercise oversight ability.
P.S. “Some investment returns are not guaranteed and you could lose money by investing.”