There’s a feeling in the air since Election Day that is palpable and electric. It is — dare we say — hope.
In elections around the country and here in Colorado, voters have shown they believe in people and policies that are fundamentally decent and that make life better for everyday, working folks. Look no further than Colorado’s Proposition MM, which allows schools the resources needed to feed kids. It passed overwhelmingly, demonstrating that Coloradans are willing to increase taxes on people making more than $300,000 a year to pay for critical services, in this case student nutrition.
Against this backdrop, Colorado’s governor recently presented a budget to the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee that is terrifying. It reflects a collision of recent federal policies that drastically reduce education, nutrition and health programs and state revenues, with Colorado’s constitutional restrictions that artificially create scarcity.
Our recent elections show Coloradans are ready for more and better.
This governor’s budget is a prime example of why Colorado needs — and we believe, will embrace — a graduated income tax that would raise taxes on people making more than $500,000 a year and cut taxes for everyone else, which works out to 98% of Coloradans.
Consider the devastating cuts this governor and legislature are contemplating:
- This budget proposes a $300 million increase to Medicaid when $631 million is required just to keep pace with need. Congressional Republicans might have you think that Medicaid spending is wasteful or optional. To the contrary, Medicaid is a lifeline for individuals, children and families who have no other access to critical, life-saving, and preventive care.
- Although the governor’s budget allows for increased K-12 spending that keeps up with the Consumer Price Index, that doesn’t mean school districts would be immune from cuts. Between declining enrollment in many districts, health and energy price hikes, and a change in the way students are counted, school districts around the state will, once again, be forced to make painful trade-offs. And though overall state spending is increased in the budget, it doesn’t begin to touch the $3 billion to $4 billion in additional annual investments that state studies say we need for public schools to ensure every student can meet the state standards.
- This budget is balanced on the assumption that the state will sell off its stake in the state worker’s compensation insurer, Pinnacol Assurance. There is significant opposition within the legislature to this quick fix that would provide a one-time injection of cash that would leave a gaping hole in future budgets.
We’re here to tell you it doesn’t have to be this way. While it’s true that the governor and the legislature don’t have many good options, the voters of Colorado can change tax laws to generate revenue needed to support its residents. Instead of trimming with one-time fixes that don’t address the structural deficit, which is $850 million for the 2026-27 budget year, voters can make real change.
The answer is a graduated income tax, which the state had for 50 years before it was repealed by a conservative legislature in 1987. A flat tax was locked into the state constitution with the TABOR Amendment in 1992. We propose the graduated income tax prohibition be removed from the state constitution and a graduated income tax replace it.
A graduated income tax, like those at the federal level and in 27 states, both blue and red, would require the wealthy — who have recently received large tax cuts at the state and federal level — to pay a higher tax rate than lower- and middle-income Coloradans.
Our proposal would reduce state income tax rates for those making less than $500,000 a year, and increase rates for those making above $500,000. Statistics collected by the Colorado Department of Revenue show that more than 98% of tax returns filed by Coloradans reflect income of less than $500,000 annually.
We are working with the Colorado Title Board to refine ballot language for our graduated income tax proposal. Colorado’s Legislative Council Staff estimated that a prior version of the ballot question would raise $2.4 billion in fiscal year 2027-28.
The money would go for health care, K-12 education, child care and more. If this ballot question were to pass muster with voters, Colorado won’t be faced with the agonizing questions that budget writers are wrestling with today.
But if we do nothing, the cuts will worsen. At the Nov. 12 meeting of the Colorado Joint Budget that Gov. Jared Polis attended, JBC staff told lawmakers that they were expecting lawmakers would have to slice another $1 billion out of Colorado’s budget next year.
It’s not sustainable, and it’s not what Colorado voters want. They’ve shown us what they’re willing to do. Now all we have to do is listen.
Lisa Weil, of Denver, is the executive director of Great Education Colorado and a steering committee member of Protect Colorado’s Future, a coalition pursuing a graduated income tax in Colorado.
Hillary Jorgensen, of Aurora, is co-executive director of the Colorado Cross Disability Coalition and a Protect Colorado’s Future steering committee member.
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