Ben Murrey is Director of the Fiscal Policy Center at the Independence Institute. We'll talk about the horrendous scam/lie that is Prop HH.
Fiscal - Independence Institute (i2i.org)
Here are some notes that Ben sent me:
- The Republican package gives Polis everything he said during the debate that he wants:
- Property tax relief with backfill
- Preventing overcollection of taxes by reducing the income tax rate
- Senior exemption expansion and portability
- Polis said he wants these things, and Republicans have now announced they want the same thing and have bills to do it. But Polis said during debate, effectively, that Democrats in the legislature won’t play ball—that they’re the problem.
- The Republican press conference and package poses two key questions/challenges to Dems:
- First to Polis: Republicans want to work with you to give you what you want, but will you lead by calling a special session?
- Then to Dem legislators: Will you work with Polis and Republicans or be obstructionists?
Remember, during the press conference Senate President Fenberg said Colorado Dems were putting their “trust in voters” by sending Prop HH to the ballot. So do they still trust voters even if voters reject their proposal? If voters reject Prop HH, will they do things differently this time by working with the Governor, Republicans, and stakeholders to pass a tax relief package that doesn’t raise taxes and raid TABOR refunds? Or will they be obstructionists because they don’t like the answer the people of Colorado gave them?
The one condition Polis gave is that he wants to do all this without cutting funding for schools. The Republican plan does that.