Letter to the editor: Don’t let Democrats gut TABOR in Colorado

Democrats frustrated? Fine by me! House Speaker Julie McCluskie says we need a real conversation about the state’s fiscal constraints? Well, here it is. 

The state is required to pass a balanced budget just like everyone else who lives here, spending no more than what is available, unless they want to file for bankruptcy. Yet Democrats controlling Colorado continue to desire more and more of our money to fund and expand their pet projects in order to take care of us. They will certainly do that if we let them, but perhaps not how we expect.

Their expansion of Medicaid over the years is a good example. The Dems relied on federal payments that were increased in the COVID years to expand the program, knowing good and well those payments were only temporary. Now they want the citizenry to keep funding those increases. Same with many other of their nanny state programs.

The good-thinking citizens of Colorado voted down TABOR attacks by the Democrats in 2019 and 2023 by significant amounts, yet they continue to try circumventing it, even calling many of their tax increases “fees” in order to get around it. The populace knows reality.

“Liberal groups”, woefully unidentified by Summit Daily, are attempting to gut our TABOR flat tax and push us into a graduated income tax so well-off individuals have to pay even more. Why? To be more fair? No. To raise more revenue the Democrats can spend, just like California and New York. That would turn us into a comparable state all right, where wealthy citizens would just leave to avoid higher taxes. What happens when the wealthy leave? Colorado would lose even more revenue, unless of course, the rest of us pay more. That would happen if TABOR is gutted.