Here’s how to fix Colorado’s bleak budget

Re: “Colo. will face devastating cuts without fed’s help,” May 18 guest commentary

It is going to be rough. Projected revenue is down by $3.3 billion. Our constitution requires we must have a balanced budget, so somehow our legislators need to figure out how to find the money.

First, we have the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights which makes raising taxes, even in the best of times, almost impossible. Add a boom-and-bust oil and gas economy and the multiple loopholes they enjoy. Mix in our dependence on the tourism, outdoor recreation, and gaming industries. Finally, top this with Colorado's persistent libertarian streak, deifying local control.

What we have is Colorado ranking 45th in state tax revenue, despite having one of the fastest growing economies. What we have is a Colorado with huge inequalities between school districts with extra local tax dollars and those without. The fiscal divide between Aspen and Lake county school districts was ranked the most extreme in the entire country.

Sens. Dominick Moreno and Rachel Zenzinger make a point that we need federal bailout money to help us get through. But shoring up the difference doesn’t change the recipe for inequality built into Colorado tax code. What we need is a shakeup to balance local control with state responsibility to ensure that our tax dollars are distributed more fairly. We need new tax laws that ask more from those with plenty, to allow our state to take care of those with less. We can’t take the bailout package and run. We have to change.

Moreno and Zenzinger want federal money to make up for the forecasted shortfall in the state budget. The national house has passed a $3 trillion relief bill, which includes help for the states. Where does that $3 trillion come from? Well, the taxpayers of course. That $3 trillion works out to about $9,000 for every man, woman and child in the U.S.

The state government has an insatiable appetite for more money. As the senators point out, before the pandemic hit we were looking forward to a budget surplus. Were they happy that they lived within the budget and had a little left over? No, they were happy that they had more to spend. As usual, the extra needed to be spent on roads, schools, etc. I would like some day to hear that our government had spent all the budget on roads, teachers, police, firemen, etc., and needed additional funds for the state bureaucracy, support for immigrants here illegally, etc.

Folks, the monies to fund our local, state and federal governments all come from the same place. Us, the taxpayers.

Moreno and Zenzinger are right. Colorado will face devastating cuts. But they are wrong on the solution. The solution is to open the state economy. Open the restaurants, gyms, retail shops, hotels, casinos and so forth. This economic cataclysm was self inflicted by Gov. Jared Polis. The legislative branch should condemn this overreach of power and pass legislation to end this ridiculous shut down.

Re: “Progressive income tax is path to save state’s stricken budget,” May 17 opinion column

While I am open to discussions about a more progressive state income tax as Ian Silverii advocates, Colorado must be wary of the Connecticut conundrum. Implementation of a progressive tax in 1996 contributed to a virtual elimination of the middle class in that state.

Both businesses and individuals are leaving that state in droves, putting Connecticut in a worse hole than they were before the progressive tax. A few thousand “rich” people pay over a third of the state income tax. And when those few people have had enough, they start to bail to a more tax-friendly state.

Wealthy people are rain-makers. They own the businesses that provide jobs and purchase more than their share of the goods and services that help drive our state’s economy. Do we really want to force them out with onerous taxes?