staging.rockymountainvoice.com

Menu

Tag: Taxes

Democrats make deal with governor to redirect TABOR refunds to low-income families
No Comments
State, The Colorado Sun

Democrats make deal with governor to redirect TABOR refunds to low-income families

By Brian Eason and Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun Democrats in the Colorado legislature on Tuesday announced a deal with Gov. Jared Polis to make sweeping changes to the state tax code that reduce income taxes and redirect hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer refunds to low-income parents and the middle class. The tax package, spread across a handful of different bills in the final days of this year’s lawmaking term, represents an escalation of the legislature’s recent efforts to reimagine the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights — a darling of the conservative movement — as a vehicle for progressive policy. Under the TABOR amendment, the government must refund money to taxpayers when revenue rises faster than the combined rate of inflation and population growth. This fiscal year, it’s...
Read More
Pavlich: Your hard-earned dollars shouldn’t go to Leftist media outlets
No Comments
Commentary, TownHall.com

Pavlich: Your hard-earned dollars shouldn’t go to Leftist media outlets

By Katie Pavlich | Townhall.com Each year, more than $500 million of your hard-earned tax dollars get funneled through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and into the bank account of National Public Radio (NPR), a far-left media outlet dedicated to tearing down America and the values you believe in. NPR claims to be "an independent news organization committed to informing the public about the world around us." But for decades, NPR has been dedicated to attacking conservatives and carrying water for Democratic politicians. Remember this from the 2020 presidential election? "We don't want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don't want to waste the listeners' and readers' time on stories that are just pure distractions," NPR Managing Editor Samuels s...
Read More
TAX DAY: Colorado tax experts busy this season due to state TABOR refund
No Comments
CBS 11 KKTV, State

TAX DAY: Colorado tax experts busy this season due to state TABOR refund

By Kasia Kerridge | CBS 11 Colorado Springs Tax Day marks the last day to file your taxes, or you will need to get an extension. The IRS is estimating 19 million taxpayers will file for an automatic six-month extension. Although an extension grants extra time to file, the IRS says it does not extend the obligation to pay. “There’s two penalties you can face if you owe the IRS money by the deadline. The first is the failure the file penalty, and that one is 5% of the unpaid taxes. That one is very severe, and you can avoid that one by filing an extension. The second one is a failure to pay penalty. That one is .5% of the unpaid taxes,” said David Fruh of Jackson Hewitt Tax Services in Colorado Springs. READ THE FULL STORY AT CBS 11 COLORADO SPRINGS
Read More
Colorado businesses responsible for funding statewide recycling program left in the dark, advocates say
No Comments
coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado businesses responsible for funding statewide recycling program left in the dark, advocates say

Business tax could be as much as $200,000 annually By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics As Colorado initiates the rollout of a statewide recycling program, business advocates are warning lawmakers that companies are facing hefty fees they may not be aware of and implementing the initiative may not be realistic heading into 2026, not to mention its price tag amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.   House Bill 22-1355, signed into law in June 2022, tasked the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment with selecting a nonprofit organization to oversee the recycling initiative, funded through annual dues from producers of packaging materials and paper products. Producers are not required to pay those dues until 2026, and their advocates are uncertain...
Read More
Antoni: High-income earners pay much more than their ‘Fair Share’
No Comments
Commentary, Heritage Foundation, National

Antoni: High-income earners pay much more than their ‘Fair Share’

By EJ Antoni | Heritage Foundation What is your fair share of what someone else has earned? That’s the fundamental principle being tested when discussing “the wealthy paying their fair share.” Politicians frequently use this hackneyed phrase with ill-defined terms in their calls to raise taxes. Still, the numbers don’t support the idea that the wealthy are skirting their financial responsibility to the nation. According to the U.S. Treasury, the bottom 10% of income earners pay no taxes, and the second income decile has an average tax rate of minus-4.8%. Mechanisms like refundable tax credits mean this group receives more from the Treasury than it pays in taxes, creating a negative rate. Those in the 20% to 30% of income earners pay an average tax rate of just 2.8%. Predic...
Read More
Studies show Colorado property taxes are ‘extremely low.’ So why do they feel so high?
No Comments
State, The Colorado Sun

Studies show Colorado property taxes are ‘extremely low.’ So why do they feel so high?

By Brian Eason | Colorado Sun Over the past year, property taxes have dominated Colorado’s state politics like rarely before. Public outcry over a 40% jump in homes’ taxable values spawned a multi-million dollar ballot fight, a special legislative session and a bipartisan commission to study tax relief for homeowners. And there’s more to come, with a number of property tax measures vying for voter approval on the November 2024 ballot.  There’s just one detail that’s difficult to square with the political panic: Study after study from researchers across the political spectrum shows that Colorado’s property taxes aren’t all that high. In reality, they’re close to the lowest in the entire country. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN...
Read More
Colorado conservatives want a property tax cap. The state’s bipartisan tax commission hates the idea.
No Comments
State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado conservatives want a property tax cap. The state’s bipartisan tax commission hates the idea.

By Brian Eason | Colorado Sun In late January, Colorado’s bipartisan tax commission took an informal poll among its 19 members to gauge support for the dozen or so ideas they’d been discussing to deliver tax relief to homeowners. One emerged as a clear loser: a cap on property tax revenue growth. The concept — backed by influential conservative and business groups outside the Capitol — ranked among the lowest of any proposal among the committee’s members, garnering strong opposition from Republicans and Democrats alike. “Hard caps are a terrible idea,” Sen. Chris Hansen, a Denver Democrat and chair of the commission, told The Colorado Sun in an interview. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
Read More
Democrat turns tail on proposed pet tax after voter backlash
No Comments
coloradopeakpolitics.com, Commentary, State

Democrat turns tail on proposed pet tax after voter backlash

By Colorado Peak Politics A lawmaker who ruffled the fur of Colorado pet lovers with her bill mandating state registration of our four-legged children plus a mandated pet tax has turned tail and now plans to withdraw her measure. State Rep. Reginal English, a tax-and-spend Democrat from El Paso County, quickly came under fire on social media for her bill. It imposed fees of $8.50 on every pet with a designated caregiver, $25 for pets without designated caregivers, and $16 for pets that were permitted to breed. Channel 7 first reported English’s “decision to pull the bill was not because she felt pressured by the backlash.” Yet reported a few sentences later: English said the decision to pull the bill was not because she felt pressured by the backlash, but came ...
Read More
2 Colorado counties and RTD use taxpayer dollars on political consultants to generate more tax dollars
No Comments
CBS Colorado, Denver Metro, Local

2 Colorado counties and RTD use taxpayer dollars on political consultants to generate more tax dollars

By Shaun Boyd | SOURCE: CBS News As Coloradans brace for massive property tax spikes, some local governments are quietly laying the groundwork for ballot measures that would hike taxes even further, and a loophole in Colorado state law allows them to use your tax dollars to figure out how to get more of your tax dollars. Under state law, a government entity can't spend more than $50 to support a measure after it's on the ballot, but there's no limit on what they can spend before it makes the ballot. Natalie Menten, founder of Colorado Engaged, says the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners is among those using the loophole to run political campaigns on the public's dime. A political activist, government watchdog and chief nemesis of the commissioners, Menten says they're ...
Read More