The old joke is “100 politicians walk into a bar…and nothing gets done.”

Oh, how I wish that were true in Colorado today.

I have nearly 30 years of political activism under my belt, fighting on the state and local level to keep Colorado, well, Colorado.

Because of this experience, I feel qualified to make the following statement: The 2021 legislative session has been by far the most damaging to our personal freedom and economic prosperity of any legislative session.

EVER!

Don’t believe me?

“Increasing revenue” has been a theme throughout the session. House Bill 1311 would raise income taxes by nearly $270 million a year without a public vote by changing Colorado’s tax rules on deductions and capital gains. Yep, it’s a soak-the-rich ploy.

In the other chamber, Senate Bill 260 is sold as a way to fix our crumbling roads, but only a fraction of the money raised goes to roads.

Those are just 2 of the many ways this legislature has done an end run around TABOR and paid for their pet projects.

Some good news is that this session of the undead is actually ending. But, this may not be the case in the future.

If you didn’t know, the Colorado General Assembly is constitutionally mandated to end 120 calendar days after the start of the session. But, our progressive Supreme Court has ruled that the phrase “calendar days” means any day on the calendar, allowing the legislators to stretch it out as long as they like.

So the left is using this ruling to build a California-like, full-time legislature. Heaven forbid legislators have a job in the real world.

I think it’s time we fight back! We’ve done it before and we can do it again!

Last fall Independence Institute put a small income tax cut on the ballot and it passed by over 15 points. We also helped pass an initiative that requires the legislature to get voter consent to raise large “fees,” the new term for taxes.

If they continue to raise our taxes without our consent, then I believe we have little choice but to go back to the ballot box and cut taxes to bring their take of our earnings back to where it was. Coloradans are with us, but the politicians under the Golden dome still haven’t learned their lesson.

Also, if they won’t actually pay for roads, we think we have a solution! We are exploring an idea for next year’s ballot – resurrecting Senate Bill 1, an old budgeting law that guarantees road building be a priority within the state’s already massive budget.

What they take without a vote of the people, we will take back with a vote of the people. Stay tuned, and I’ll keep you updated on what’s happening!

Think Freedom,

-Jon