March 08, 2016 12:05 PM UTC

Whose Gold-Plated Spoon Is Feeding The Denver Post?

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• by: Jason Salzman

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

The Denver Post is an outfit that likes to think of itself as standing up for everyday people, who rightfully worry about the ways the rich take advantage of government loopholes to get richer, while most people are left treading water and wishing politicians would stand up for them.

Yet, when Democrats in the state House pass a bill that moves the fairness needle toward working families, The Post decides to misrepresent their efforts so egregiously you wonder whose gold-plated spoon is feeding the newspaper’s editorial board such nonsense.

The Democrats’ bill, which passed the House along party lines Monday, would simply stop Colorado companies from hiding profits in well-known overseas tax havens, like the Cayman Islands. And the millions of dollars of tax revenue recovered would go to schools–which are the starting point for economic opportunity in America.

The bill would actually help level the playing field for businesses that play by the rules, which is the vast majority of them, by making sure their competitors pay the same tax they do.

Yet, somehow, The Post found a way to turn legislation that’s about basic fairness into an albatross on Colorado business, even saying the legislation would threaten Colorado jobs.

The Post thumped it chest and declared that  “not even longtime Democratic strongholds like California and New York have such laws. Indeed, California held hearings on the idea a few years ago and declined to go further.”

That’s because the same special interests that want to kill the bill here in Colorado did so successfully in New York and California.

But what The Post didn’t tell you is that the bill actually passed in Montana and Oregon, with bipartisan support.

That’s bipartisan support from lawmakers who decided to do something about one of the most blatant tax loopholes enjoyed by businesses who line their pockets by flouting tax laws.

Maybe a taxpayer’s miracle will strike, and The Post will change its opinion. This might convince state senate Republicans to pass it. As of now, they’re expected to kill the Democrats’ proposed law, because, it seems, they’re listening to the same special interests who successfully pedaled their greed to The Post.