2025 Handbook on K-12 Policy Issues for Colorado

One of the Education Policy Center’s primary goals is to educate local education leaders about important education policy issues, thereby equipping them to make intelligent, well-informed decisions in their school districts. Biennially, we update our K-12 policy issues school board member handbook to provide leaders with historical and current information from a common-sense perspective on […]
Propositions LL & MM a warm up for much bigger tax hike

Colorado’s statewide Propositions LL and MM are ominous preludes to the so-called ‘progressive’ income tax proposition working its way towards next year’s ballot. But by rejecting LL and MM, voters can send a clear message to the legislature that Coloradans still believe in basic tax fairness and holding state government accountable. As I previously explained, […]
Denver’s Flavor Ban a Poor Solution Looking for a Problem

Voters residing in a city home to more than 70 breweries, 2,000 liquor-licensed establishments, 300 cannabis dispensaries, and psychedelic mushroom clinics will soon decide if they’re willing to prevent consenting adults from purchasing at least one commonly used substance: flavored nicotine products. As part of their 2025 ballots, Denver voters will be asked to weigh in on Referendum […]
‘Progressive’ income tax scheme threatens Colorado

Progressive income taxes don’t hurt the rich. They are penalties on upward mobility and hope that hurt everyone but the rich.
President Trump, the Constitution, and the National Guard Cases

Analyzing the law behind recent cases challenging the President’s authority to federalize the National Guard.
Surrounded by Leftist Propaganda: Proving Media Bias Over Time

During the 2021-2025 timespan, American newspaper writers used the political insult “right wing extremist” seventeen times more often than “left-wing extremist.”
Independent Inking: Fall 2025

In this issue:
– Read about our summer interns
– The 23rd Annual Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Party
– Colorado’s Clean Energy Plan
– The Democrat’s plan to dismantle TABOR
Propositions LL and MM: There’s Still No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

By Nash Herman and Jake Fogleman Executive Summary In 2022, Proposition FF created Colorado’s Healthy School Meals for All (HSMA) program, offering free school lunches to all students regardless of family income, funded by capping state income tax deductions for households earning over $300,000. The program’s costs far exceeded expectations in its first year, creating […]
Jake Fogleman Talks Rising Energy Bills, the Role of State Energy Policy on Free State Colorado

Independence Institute Director of Policy Jake Fogleman appeared on Free State Colorado this week to talk about the forces currently driving increasing energy costs for Colorado households and businesses. He also discussed the role state lawmakers have played in imposing those costs in pursuit of a clean energy transition and what energy policy trends Colorado […]
The Case Against a ‘Progressive’ Income Tax in Colorado

The battle over Colorado’s future tax system has officially begun, and the stakes for families, businesses, and the state’s economy couldn’t be higher. Backed by a coalition of advocacy groups that consistently push for higher taxes as the solution to Colorado’s challenges, the Bell Policy Center submitted proposed language for the 2026 ballot that would […]
RICO the Violent Left

Leftist violence suggests a pattern of criminal planning that extends back many years.
Who Called the Constitutional Convention? The Commonwealth of Virginia

The Virginia legislature, not Congress, called the Constitutional Convention.