March 09, 2010 10:13 PM UTC

"Tax Tracks" A Hit For Kennedy

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• by: Colorado Pols

Worth a look if you haven’t already, the Denver Post reports:

A new website that will provide taxpayers estimates of how their taxes are spent and allow them to vote on whether that amount is appropriate was unveiled Sunday.

The Tax Tracks program is the first of its kind in the country, said state Treasurer Cary Kennedy. Users enter their income and can see, for example, how many of their dollars went to education.

The program estimates income, property, sales, gas and other taxes using information from a 2000 Bureau of Labor Statistics survey.

Everybody we’ve talked to thinks it’s quite cool, and a nicely simplified breakdown of where tax revenue goes. Demystifying the process makes prevaricating about it tougher, which is good for (almost) everybody.

Politically, this is the latest in a string of ‘open government’ promises Treasurer Cary Kennedy can hang her hat on going into her re-election bid this year. If you recall her campaign spots from 2006 (YouTube makes it easy), her foremost pledge as a candidate was to “show you where your money goes.” Part of that pledge was covered when she put the state’s checking register online, and published comprehensive annual reports–“Tax Tracks” would be the other half.

Just another reason why Kennedy arguably has more to run on than any statewide incumbent this year, despite the pack of well-funded Republican challengers nipping at her heels. Were it not for the lavish amounts of money at least two of those GOP candidates are ready to dump into this race, we’d call it as sewn up as Attorney General John Suthers‘ impending cakewalk.