One of the top issues on the minds of Colorado voters this election is the cost of living, with about 15% in the ongoing Voter Voices survey by media outlets across the state saying they intend to focus first on the economy as they mark their ballots. Coloradans are concerned about the price of housing, … Read more
A water provider in metro Denver has faced a lose-lose situation: Apply for state funding for water projects and risk giving up tax revenue — or abstain from seeking the millions of dollars of available grant money altogether. It’s a bad choice voters can help an Adams County water district avoid by passing a ballot … Read more
Heard of ballot box biology? That’s when special interests ask voters to circumvent the expertise and inclusive decision-making of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission to get what they want. Equally pernicious is ballot box budgeting which distorts the state budget process in favor of certain interests by appealing directly to voters through initiatives. Ballot … Read more
Colorado students whose families make less than $90,000 per year will be able to get up to two years of in-state tuition paid for under a new law signed Thursday by Gov. Jared Polis. Passed as House Bill 1340, the measure directs the state to reimburse qualifying students through a refundable income tax credit, meaning … Read more
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed several tax-related bills into law Tuesday, including two that deliver what officials are touting as historic cuts to taxes of different kinds. One reduces income and sales taxes. Senate Bill 228 cuts the state’s income rate by up to 0.15% in years when state revenue handily exceeds the cap set … Read more
Unlike last year, the end of the Colorado legislative session Wednesday came with no fireworks — no protest walkouts, no intracaucus tensions boiling over into public, no last-minute implosions of keystone policy bills. The final day of lawmakers’ nearly four-month session instead was dominated by noticeably brighter spirits as the General Assembly put the finishing … Read more
Colorado Democrats are eying a large portion of the state’s $1.8 billion-plus surplus this year to provide child tax credits targeted to help lower-income families — along with another slice devoted to helping people working in health- and child-care fields. The proposals are costly policy moves that could put state lawmakers on a path for … Read more
For the second time in two months, Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday signed a bill into law that temporarily doubles Colorado’s match of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, boosting the amount of money that will go to working families this year. The new law — the first legislation signed by Polis during the 2024 … Read more
Colorado taxpayers won’t have to pay federal income taxes on their state refunds this filing season, according to two elected officials, after the IRS resolved uncertainty surrounding that issue — at least for now. U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Gov. Jared Polis confirmed the Internal Revenue Service’s decision during a Tuesday meeting with IRS representatives, … Read more
