Governor Jared Polis released his FY2022-23 budget proposal in November 2021. On December 2, Independence Institute’s Fiscal Policy Director Ben Murrey went on KLZ 560 AM in Denver to speak with host Kim Monson and discuss the governor’s budget, the massive expansion in state revenues over the past decade, and the economic outlook for the state.

You can listen to the interview here.

• 0:16 – Summary of Polis’ FY2022-23 budget proposal
• 1:57 – Soaring state revenues despite government mandated lockdowns
• 4:11 – The effect of federal stimulus on state revenues, inflation, and the economy
• 10:53 – Commercial break
• 12:33 – Polis awards no-bid contracts to political allies
• 13:48 – Line items from Polis’ budget
• 17:44 – State government coffers are overflowing
• 20:39 – Putting Polis’ budget in perspective

By injecting liquidity into the economy, the Fed and Congress have done a good job of making the economy look good on paper. That’s a lot of the reason government revenues are up in Colorado. There’s a real question: Is that real wealth creation, or did we just create more paper?

Government revenues are ballooning in Colorado. Polis’ proposed budget amounts to $40 billion for the coming fiscal year, twice what it was a decade ago. Over the same period in which the state budget increased 100%, the population has increased by only 15 percent. Yet we’ve been hearing for years from Progressives that Colorado cannot fund essential services for lack of adequate funding. The governor’s budget includes $150 million for electric school busses, $12 million for electric bike rebates, and $28 million to make public transit free during the summer. If the state cannot pay for essential services, maybe our elected officials should reconsider their priorities.

Learn about this and more in the interview and from the work of our Fiscal Policy Center.

For more on govern Polis’ budget, read his column in Complete Colorado: Governor Polis crippled small business, now offers crutches.