Todd Engdahl at Ed News Colorado reported Friday on two educational tax credit bills (HB 1295 and HB 1296) being introduced in the legislature, and closed with this comment:While the proposals could make for interesting debate, they’re expected to fail for three reasons: 1) Democrats control the legislature, 2) the education lobby, and 3) most lawmakers don’t want to fiddle with school finance or tax credits when the state budget is in the tank. [emphasis added] The first two reasons are rather straightforward. Of course, Democrats don't want to devolve power from the education establishment. And of course, the iron triangle of CEA, CASE and CASB would oppose the slightest effort to grant authentic private school choice to taxpaying … [Read more...]
Colorado Democrats Dig Themselves Deeper on Dirty Dozen Tax Hikes
At this point, ramming through the Dirty Dozen tax hikes has Colorado Democrats in such political hot water, why not just go ahead and swim in it? That must be the reasoning behind the effort to make things even worse by changing the temporary tax hikes into permanent tax hikes. It used to be about half the bills would eventually reduce the respective tax rates to their current level. Not anymore:Republicans believe that Democrats are using the current budget crisis as an excuse to permanently raise taxes on Colorado families and businesses. “If the tax increases are only meant to help the state fill the budget gap, as Democrats claim, then why aren’t we making them all temporary?” asked Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield. Then … [Read more...]
Six Years of Mount Virtus Blogging
Another year has come and gone. Today Mount Virtus is 6 years old, which perhaps puts me in the ranks of Colorado's political blogging ancients. I have a few graying hairs to show for it. My blog's 6th birthday also means 99 years ago today one of our greatest Presidents -- Ronald Reagan -- was born. It's also Waitangi Day in New Zealand. But that's neither here nor there. … [Read more...]
Rasmussen on Colorado U.S. Senate: No Clear Trend, GOP Edge Persists
I'm not sure how exactly to headline the new Rasmussen poll on potential Colorado U.S. Senate race matchups. Three weeks ago I highlighted the fact that Jane Norton's lead over the Appointed One Michael Bennet was widening, and that Bennet was dropping across the board against all potential Republican challengers. The results this time aren't altogether so clear. Yes, Jane Norton has an even greater 14-point advantage over Bennet, but her presumed 12-point lead over Bennet's Democratic primary challenger Andrew Romanoff has slipped to 7 points. GOP contender Tom Wiens -- who just reported a hefty but heavily self-funded fourth quarter -- may have leveled off. But he lost a little ground against both Bennet (6-point lead dropped to 4) … [Read more...]
On TV at 8:30 PM Tonight to Discuss Public School Financial Transparency
Tonight (Friday) at 8:30 PM on Denver's KBDI Channel 12, you can watch me make a guest appearance on Independent Thinking with host Jon Caldara. The topic? Jefferson County Public Schools' new, front-of-the-pack financial transparency website. For more -- including my podcast interview with fellow guest, Jeffco CFO Lorie Gillis, and my new paper on the topic of school financial transparency -- please visit Ed Is Watching. The lonely Friday crowd can make your popcorn in plenty of time for tonight's 8:30 showing. For everyone else, get your TiVos/recorders ready or watch the episode re-air on Monday, 1:30 PM, on KBDI. … [Read more...]
Colo. Senate GOP Unveils Alternative to Tax Hikes without Further K-12 Cuts
Within the past hour Colorado Senate Republicans have unveiled a sensible, taxpayer-friendly alternative to the Democrats' efforts to ram through the "dirty dozen" tax hikes. From the press release:Republicans in the Colorado Senate today unveiled a proposal to reduce government spending as an alternative to the Democrats’ plan to raise taxes on the businesses and citizens of Colorado. “Democrats keep saying that in order to balance the budget ‘everything is on the table,’” said Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud. “Republicans want to make sure that a reduction in government spending is on the table and thoroughly debated before we raise taxes.” The GOP proposal includes a 0.25 percent reduction in state payroll spending for the … [Read more...]
February Survey: Time to Help Us Take Colorado’s Political Temperature
This post will stick to the top until February 12. Please scroll down for newer postings. Time flies, so here comes another edition of the Survey of Colorado’s Political Temperature. The deadline is next Friday, February 12, at 5:00 PM local Mountain time. What are you waiting for? Click here to take the February survey The February edition has even fewer issue statements, but introduces some interesting new items: Polling questions and head-to-head matchup on the 3rd Congressional race to challenge Rep. John Salazar Questions about your plans to participate in the upcoming caucus and assembly process Detailed question about your sources of local political news and information Throughout the 2010 election year, the Survey … [Read more...]
Edgar Antillon Gains Winning Issue from Cherylin Peniston’s Tax Hike Votes
One of the Democrat representatives who voted for 7 of the 8 tax increases that passed the state house Friday is state representative Cherylin Peniston (D-Adams County). Peniston voted for every one of the tax hikes except, strangely, the one on non-essential food containers. To me, House District 35 is a darkhorse race to keep an eye on. Republican challenger Edgar Antillon faces the daunting odds of a district that is 46 percent Democratic to 22 percent Republican, but he's looking to run a focused and energetic campaign to oust Peniston from office. Antillon contacted me yesterday after the votes had been recorded to explain his basic philosophical distinction with the incumbent on these tax hike votes. He emphasized that the … [Read more...]
New Tarrance Poll: Trouble for Colo. Dems Pushing Dirty Dozen Tax Hikes
Yes, the poll is from the McInnis think tank, but if this new Tarrance Group survey (PDF) is anywhere near accurate, it's a dark day for the Colorado Democrats. First, the 65 percent of Colorado voters who believe "that a recession is no time to raise taxes, and that government should reduce spending with a six percent 'across the board' cut to balance the budget" rather than "that taxes and fees should be raised on businesses in order to protect funding for key services like health care, education, and transportation" (chosen by only 25 percent of respondents) breaks down as follows: … [Read more...]
Colorado Democrats Accidentally Turn Tax Hike Into Tax Cut … “D’Oh!”
That's got to be how the Democratic trio of Governor Bill Ritter, Speaker Terrance Carroll, and House Finance Committee Chairman Joel Judd have to be feeling after knowing they accidentally turned one of their tax hike bills into a tax cut and therefore had to kill it. The majority party under the Golden Dome couldn't let a pesky problem like that make it into the light of day. You can't make this stuff up, folks. Yet somehow it escaped even the watchful eye of the Denver Post's "The Spot" blog. Oh, well.... … [Read more...]
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