Hospital provider fee is a tax

Re: “Yet more trouble for state budget,” Jan. 8 editorial.

The Denver Post’s editorial comes to the conclusion that Colorado’s hospital provider fee enacted in 2009 is not a tax.

The Post seems unaware that the Code of Federal Regulations that describe the mechanism for states to participate in this style of Medicaid funding (42 CFR Part 433, Subpart B) refer to these “fees” exclusively as taxes. Moreover, the regulations specify how these taxes must be assessed, conditions that are typical and essential components of a tax, not a fee.

The Colorado Constitution specifies the proper way the state can increase tax revenue above the annual increases already permitted under the law, the crux of the issue behind the current debate. The governor has chosen not to pursue the constitutional course. Since the arbitrary redefinition of a tax into a “fee” was allowed to stand in 2009, the governor and some in the legislature have decided to double down and simply call these taxes a new state “enterprise,” further removing them from constitutional requirements.

“Fees” are something the government charges for a service provided to the person paying the fee, such as sewer charges and trash collection. An “enterprise” is a state run business, such as a toll road. Neither term applies when talking about the hospital provider fee.

The governor and the legislature (and The Denver Post) should be foremost among the defenders of the rule of law, and should not be playing word games in attempts to circumvent it.

Randall M. Clark, Denver