For once, some good budget news. Colorado received a $111 million premium on a debt issuance of $500 million, thanks to strong investor demand for state-issued debt. As a result, budget writers say that $100 million in planned cuts to the Colorado Department of Transportation over the next two years — and some additional cuts […]
Brian Eason
Brian Eason writes about the Colorado state budget, tax policy, PERA and housing. He's passionate about explaining how our government works, and why it often fails to serve the public interest.
Topic expertise: Public finance, tax policy, housing, PERA
Location: Denver
Newsletter: The Unaffiliated
Education: University of Missouri and Georgia State University
Honors & Awards: Brian has won a number of awards for investigative and political reporting in state-level contests. In 2015, he won the Kent Cooper Award for story of the year in Indiana. In 2023, he led a reporting team in Atlanta that won Bronze in the national Barlett & Steele Awards.
Professional membership(s): Investigative Reporters and Editors
Contact:
Bluesky: @brianeason.bsky.social
Threads: @atbrianeason
Posted inBusiness, Politics and Government
Gallagher led to $35 billion in residential property tax cuts. Now Colorado lawmakers want voters to repeal it.
In a desperate attempt to stave off further budget calamity, state lawmakers are fast-tracking a landmark ballot measure that would ask voters to repeal the Gallagher Amendment — the property tax-limiting constitutional provision that has provided an estimated $35 billion in tax relief to Colorado homeowners since 1983. The bipartisan proposal — which requires a […]
Posted inBusiness, Politics and Government
To balance budget, Colorado lawmakers add to PERA’s long-term debt and backtrack from landmark deal
Just two years after Colorado approved sweeping pension reforms aimed at wiping out what was then an unfunded $32 billion debt to public sector retirees, state budget writers — facing a financial catastrophe of their own — have temporarily undone a portion of the landmark rescue package. The Joint Budget Committee tentatively decided to eliminate […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, News, Politics and Government
Coronavirus may trigger the second-largest property tax cut in Colorado history, further crippling local budgets
At a moment when state and local governments are already drowning in red ink, Colorado’s constitution is now projected to trigger the second-largest residential property tax cut in modern history. Under forecasts presented Tuesday, Colorado lawmakers could be asked to cut residential property taxes by nearly 18% in 2021 to comply with a tax-limiting constitutional […]
Posted inBusiness, News
Against uncertain backdrop, the tax overhaul backed by Colorado’s governor and state lawmakers limps ahead
After years of groundwork, 2020 was supposed to be the time for Colorado tax reform. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis kicked off his second year in office by doubling down on his pledge to eliminate special interest tax breaks to fund broad tax cuts. A legislative study group came into the session with an agenda of […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, Politics and Government
Colorado scrutinizes oil and gas tax breaks as severance taxes drop and the state budget gets tight
This year, an oil and gas tax break is expected to grow so large — and gas prices drop so low — that many of Colorado’s oil wells would owe the state $0 in severance taxes. Consider it the $308 million elephant in the room as Colorado lawmakers reassess the state’s crumbling fiscal picture amid […]
Posted inBusiness, Crime and Courts, Energy, Environment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Colorado issues, like fracking and marijuana, divide the Democratic candidates for president
The race for the Democratic presidential nomination focuses on the big issues: health care, education, climate change — and who is best positioned to take on President Donald Trump in November. Ahead of the March 3 primary, Colorado voters also will weigh the candidates’ views on the issues that are uniquely important here: public lands, […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Voter guide: Where the Democratic presidential candidates stand on Colorado issues
Click here to use our interactive presidential primary voter guide here!
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Colorado progressives have a new target in their pursuit of a tax overhaul: the rich. Here’s why.
In the Colorado tax code, it pays to be rich and it’s expensive to be poor. For decades now, that’s been the stark takeaway buried inside the 286-page report on Colorado’s tax system the state Department of Revenue releases every two years: The less you make, the more you spend on taxes, as a percentage […]
Posted inBusiness, Politics and Government
The tax fight continues in Colorado as liberal group files 35 more ideas for the 2020 ballot
If the fight over Colorado tax policy were a sporting event, half the stadium might have emptied out by now. With the November defeat of Proposition CC, the score has become so lopsided in favor of fiscal conservatives, the outcome of any given skirmish over the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights is starting to feel like […]