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The Colorado General Assembly sent the first batch of bills to the governor's desk on Tuesday, framed as measures to close a massive budget gap.
Did they cut spending? No. The bills are focused on increasing tax revenue:
House Bill 25B-1005 repeals a provision in state law that allows retailers to keep four percent of their sales tax collections. To help taxpayers understand the overwhelming contempt in this measure, here is Senator Cathy Kipp (D-SD14):
“Nobody wants to give up something they’ve already had, and nobody wants to be for asking people to do that. It’s just that this is where we find ourselves today. But we do not genuinely pay people to pay their taxes. We do not generally pay people to comply with the law.”
House Bill 25B-1003 repeals a tax incentive for insurance companies that have at least 2.5 percent of their domestic employees in Colorado. Expect these jobs (and possibly the companies entirely) to leave the state in the near future.
House Bill 25B-1001 permanently extends a requirement that high-income taxpayers add back their qualified business income federal tax deductions when calculating their Colorado taxable income. Expect these high earners to leave the state in the near future as it seems their "fair share" is quite unfair compared to the landscape in other states.
House Bill 25B-1002 expands the list of countries that Colorado considers to be tax havens, limiting the deductions that corporations can claim on taxable income in those jurisdictions.
If you're keeping track, the extraordinary session is in it's sixth day -- at an estimate taxpayer cost of $50,000 per day -- they have yet to cut spending. And out of control spending is the actual problem.
Inexplicably, while gathered at the capitol to fix the budget, they're adding spending. From Kiowa County Press:
- Senate Bill 25B-3 would change a referred ballot measure in November to ask voters if the state can use extra money collected for universal school meals to also cover costs related to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
- Senate Bill 25B-2 would allow the state to pay for Medicaid services from organizations that providereproductive health care, namely Planned Parenthood, that the federal government has withheld Medicaid money from. The bill’s fiscal notes estimates it would cost Colorado a maximum of $4.4 million during the current fiscal year, which began on July 1.
The good news is that they voted down new spending for the wolf genocide. Silver linings.
There are no bill signing ceremonies scheduled as of press time.
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