January 05, 2010 07:07 PM UTC

"Killing the Golden Goose" And Other Such Poppycock

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• by: Colorado Pols

A very brief mention for the Denver Post’s report from..well, some other state mistakenly referred to as Colorado herein:

A conservative policy group says Colorado is one generation away from a California-type fiscal crisis, thanks to what it calls excessive taxation, uncontrollable spending and an environment hostile to job growth.

Americans for Prosperity Colorado, which issued the 71-page report Monday, laid almost all the blame on Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter and the Democratic-controlled legislature.

“Over the last six years, there has been a move to find more of a government solution to every problem,” said Jeff Crank, director of Americans for Prosperity Colorado…

The report, “Colorado in Transition: Killing the Golden Goose,” calls for the repeal or reduction of income, property and business-personal property taxes, to be replaced by a “consumption” tax on spending.

The report reads like a conservative manifesto: the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, which controls taxation and spending, is good; labor unions are bad; Amendment 23, the voter-approved measure that mandates more funding for education, should be repealed…

The Post’s Lynn Bartels does a pretty good job taking apart the report on factual points, and Governor Bill Ritter’s spokesman responds well with the fact that Colorado’s economic situation is considerably better than most other states. The Bell Policy Center dismisses the report as ideologically based. All well and good–our point for Mr. Crank is a lot simpler.

According to a Legislative Council memo (see sidebar) from July of last year, Colorado’s state tax burden on a benchmark $1,000 of income ranks 48th out of 50 states. 44th on state sales tax. 41st on corporate income tax. The very low state tax rates forced by TABOR and other restrictions are partly offset by higher resultant local taxes to minimally fund essentials, but Colorado’s overall state and local tax burden is below the national average–period.

The only way to get from there to “one generation away from California-type fiscal crisis thanks to excessive taxation” is if you are, say it slowly, repeat as needed, completely batshit crazy.