How New 2024 Tax Expenditures Undermine TABOR
Governor Jared Polis has been a consistent advocate for eliminating the state income tax, or at least “buying it down” through the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) surplus. This year, Polis claimed that legislation passed in 2024 did “deliver on that promise” to reduce the income tax rate, but Independence Institute’s research finds that legislation […]
Evaluating Gov. Polis’s Tax Reform Agenda: Tax Expenditures vs. Broad-Based Tax Relief
Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, champions increasing state revenue by eliminating provisions of the tax code that benefit special interests—what state budgeters call “tax expenditures.” Rather than use the new money to grow government or redistribute surplus revenue through tax handouts and Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) refunds, however, the governor argues the state should use […]
Bishop: CO Legislature using TABOR refunds to pay for special interest tax benefits
With the public distracted by gun control, abortion, and other hot-button issues, the Democrat-controlled Colorado legislature is quietly advancing nearly two dozen bills to redistribute your taxpayer refund to special interests. The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) in Colorado’s Constitution requires the state to refund excess tax revenue back to taxpayers. The state cannot spend this surplus […]
Five fiscal policy issues to watch in the 2023 legislative session
Voters gave Colorado Democrats a decisive victory in this year’s state races, yet they also passed Independence Institute’s income tax cut by approving Proposition 121. While they elect left-of-center candidates, they continue to expect low taxes and fiscal restraint by their government. As recently as 2018, Republicans controlled the Colorado senate and served as a […]
Tax Expenditure Modifications, 2019-2022: Governor Polis’s Record on Special Interest Tax Benefits
Governor Polis has garnered national recognition for his politically libertarian and right-leaning ideas as a Democrat, especially on the issues of limited government and tax policy. Breaking from the Democrat party line, during the 9News gubernatorial candidates debate in October 2018, he told Coloradans he wanted to eliminate special interest tax benefits and use the […]
