IP-21-88 (October 1988)
Author: John Andrews & James Jacobs

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The conclusion from those studies, ststistically rigorous and thoroughly documented was as follows: “An inverse relationship exists between changes in state relative tax burdens and state relative economic growth. Those states with decreasing relative tax burdens tend to experience subsequent above average economic growth. Those states with increasing relative tax burdens tend to experience subsequent below average growth.”2

But all that was two year ago. what has happened since? The 1986 tax limitation measure was voted down. The 1987 legislature retained half of the backdoor increase in state income taxes thrust on Colorado when Congress redefined the federal tax base (while other states on average were giving back three-querters taxes. Colorado’s business climate ranking fell on such indexes as the Inc. Magazine and Grant Thornton scorecards. And ours remains one of few states still mired in recession, despite the high-visibility programs of a Governor who was elected on promises to revive the economy.
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