Perspective: Fighting to advance opportunity for hard-working Coloradans

If you feel like achieving a middle class life in Colorado is increasingly out of reach, you are not alone.

According to a new study from the Bell Policy Center, the wealth gap in our state continues to widen. Wages aren’t rising as fast as the overall economy. In rural, urban and suburban communities, housing costs are eating up an ever-greater share of paychecks and health care expenses continue to soar in this unstable market.

Bell President Scott Wasserman sounded the alarm in a recent post highlighting the study. “Inequality is already wreaking havoc in Colorado. The average income for the top 1 percent of Coloradans is $1.1 million, while the bottom 99 percent earn an average of $55,000.” Unemployment in our state is at a record low but the reality is, hardworking Coloradans are feeling the vice tighten around their wallets and it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to keep up with the rising cost of living, much less get ahead.

We have the tools and forward thinking ideas to help advance opportunity in our state. At the legislature, we passed bills to invest in education and transportation, connect rural Colorado to broadband, extend a tax credit to build more affordable housing, help hardworking families with the high cost of child care and get more of our workers into good, high-paying jobs that will help people of every gender, race and background earn a good life.

But there’s much more work to do to close the divide and grow the middle class. House Democrats put forth bold ideas to bring down the cost of skyrocketing prescription drug prices, help achieve equal pay for equal work, strengthen the rights of renters in today’s challenging housing market and put in place a statewide paid family leave policy — so that Coloradans don’t have to choose between their jobs or caring for a newborn or ailing parent.

Unfortunately, our commonsense proposals were rejected by Republicans at the legislature. In contrast, they promoted bills akin to an economic wrecking ball that would restrict the ability for workers to advocate for themselves, to allow businesses to pay sub-minimum wages and even jail teachers for fighting for better pay.

It’s the same playbook we’re seeing in Congress. Republicans at the federal level are bent on advancing success for those at the top, not those working hard to get ahead. The President and the GOP-controlled Congress fought tooth and nail to pass a tax bill that helps the ultrawealthy at the expense of everyone else. Since the bill was signed into law, workers have not felt significant wage gains — but profits for irresponsible corporations have soared. As a result, some businesses have received nine times more in tax cuts than what they passed on to their workers. Not to mention, it’s helping raise the federal deficit toward $1 trillion.

Our state is on the front lines of fighting back against the disastrous policies coming out of Washington. We have an opportunity to keep Colorado on the path to prosperity but majorities matter. Bell’s study is one of the country’s only state-specific studies on the shrinking middle class and provides a cautionary tale: Our state and the hardworking people who live here will be better off if we invest in policies and solutions that will help grow our middle class, not destroy it.