2015 Thumbnail Guide to Colorado’s Spending Problem
IB-D-2015 (July 2015) Author: Linda Gorman PDF of full Issue Backgrounder Introduction: Colorado state government has a spending problem. Between FY 1999-00 and FY 2013-14, its inflation-adjusted expenditures rose by 38 percent.1 Its inflation-adjusted revenues rose by just 34 percent. Although Colorado’s working age population grew over the period, its private sector employment stagnated.
Special interest giveaways burden Colorado taxpayers, muddy tax code
Last fall, Colorado officials claimed a $1 billion tax increase was needed to save the state’s public schools. Voters did not approve the tax increase. If officials were telling the truth, one would expect that this year they would be directing every extra budget dollar toward K-12 education. This is not happening. Instead, bills currently […]
TABOR Amendment has Saved Colorado
Do we really want to follow California’s disastrous abandonment of fiscal discipline?
Milton Friedman’s Vision in a Time of Crisis
Remarks Prepared for the Milton Friedman Birthday celebration, sponsored by the Friedman Foundation and the Independence Institute.
Tax and Spending Limits for Montana? Criteria for Assessing Current Proposals
IP-10-1994 (September 1994) Author: Robert G. Natelson PDF of full Issue Paper Scribd version of full Issue Paper Executive Summary: This November, Montana voters will consider two proposals to place Tax- Expenditure Limitations (TELs) in the state constitution. There is a clear inverse correlation between level of state and local government revenue and comparative economic […]
Unfair Government Competition Against Small Business
Unfair Competition exists when a government or quasi-government entity takes advantage of its tax exemption and other privileges to supply private goods to the market in competition with private suppliers. Unfair Competition adversely effects all Americans. Small businesses are most vulnerable. When jobs are lost, the poor, the unemployed, and women are especially damaged. When private enterprises are replaced with less efficient government enterprises, national productivity and competitiveness are adversely impacted. When the tax base is diminished, all taxpayers are injured.
