The bipartisan Joint Budget Committee presented a budget to the state legislature that will eliminate the TABOR refund due to Colorado taxpayers next year. Not surprisingly, more than half of the “sacrifices” to fill the nearly $200 million budget hole fell squarely on the shoulders of Colorado’s hard working middle class – $73 million in Tabor refunds not going out next year, and $50 million of road improvements that will not happen.
Discretionary items that took priority over Colorado’s middle class taxpayers include the state’s film tax incentive credit, and Colorado tourism marketing. Interestingly, in the face of the federal courts putting the President’s Clean Power Plan on ice, Governor Hickenlooper could not get his bureaucrats responsible for implementing the CPP included in next year’s budget. Although common sense would dictate (and many states have ordered) “pencils down” on this disastrous regulatory nightmare, Hickenlooper wanted to press on in the face of the CPP’s perilous legal predicament, costing taxpayers millions and businesses even more.
In related news, Governor Hickenlooper is no longer particularly interested in spending political capital to convert the Hospital Provider Fee into a special enterprise fund, because the only point of that maneuver was to exempt the revenues collected under that entity from the TABOR revenue cap, which would have triggered a refund to Colorado taxpayers. Satisfied that the money is now safely out of reach from Colorado working families, Hickenlooper told the Denver Post that this development has “diminished the urgency and critical nature” of his proposed government accounting maneuver.
Color us shocked.
Fred Parker That is a common misconception among people who have no knowledge of the needs of the schools in our state. You are mostly preaching to the choir on this thread, so few here will challenge your thinking.
Fred Parker Intelligent reply there Fred. I'd save my brainpower for brushing your teeth! Your Tabor guy is in Prison….great legacy for the GOP….
You are one of the few. The schools get too much money now and they misspend what they get.
The politicians responsible for this need to be fired. Tell me, how is there a $200 million shortfall when the gov says the,state is doing great, the economy is great, jobs are great and we have the mj taxes? We also get matching money for roads and the penalty (tax) for not having enough money to reregister your car on time supposedly pays for oodles of road improvements. This is the standard libtard scam for spending every cent of money they get and demanding more. Wake the,hell up Colorado or soon we will be just like Kalifornia.
You are full of it!
False hoods make you look foolish. The major of Coloradons wanted the state to keep the surplus!
Seriously? Do you realize that the typical Tabor refund to each taxpayer comes to $20 or less? Not exactly worth going ballistic over. I would much prefer that the state use the leftover funds for education.
Quit electing Demorats!!
Corporate welfare. Crony politics.
To Government that TABOR money is theirs! Gov NEVER gives back money to the people, unless forced to. Thats what TABOR tries to do, give the money back to voters. LIBS have been fighting the TABOR Amendment since it was passed. GET these LIBS OUT OF OFFICE!
They got nothing better to do than to sit and figure out how to defeat the vote of the people they are supposed to be representing. Very sad and disgusting.
Thanks to a Liberal majority in the House.
Disgusting.