February 08, 2011 12:50 AM UTC

A Fine Idea, But...

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• by: Colorado Pols

The AP reports on a bill introduced last Friday by two Republicans, Sen. Nancy Spence and Rep. Tom Massey–yell “stop” when it gets weird:

Movie tickets would cost 10 cents more under a proposal by two Colorado Republicans to raise incentive money for film productions.

House Bill 1207 would add a dime to movie tickets starting in July, with the money designated for the Colorado Office of Film, Television & Media. That office offers tax incentives to try to attract film and television productions to Colorado…

We understand the double-take. What we’ve got here is two Republicans…proposing a fee increase…to fund a government program, right? Now, don’t get us wrong, there is much evidence to suggest that investment in bringing TV and motion picture business to the state nets a very favorable economic return–orders of magnitude over what’s invested. Adjacent states like New Mexico have robust incentive programs to attract movie and television production.

But after Republicans have spent the last two years one step short of pitchforks and torches in their insistence that any such higher fee amounts to a “tax increase” unconstitutional under TABOR…well, what gives, folks? It’s not like the ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court saying they’re wrong has altered their tune a bit, at least not on the stump.

Either Massey and Spence are due great praise for blazing a trail to disposal of an arsenal of defeated “tax hike” talking points, or they’ve got some intra-caucus ‘splaining to do.