Time to Rein In the Taxaholics and Restore Fiscal Sanity
Look, Colorado's 2025 special session wasn't a heroic rescue mission—it was a desperate Band-Aid applied by a legislature addicted to spending other people's money. Democrats, flush with supermajorities in both chambers, patted themselves on the back for "closing loopholes" on big bad corporations, but let's call it what it is: a sneaky $253 million tax hike disguised as fairness. Eliminating the sales tax vendor fee? That's code for yanking $28 million a year from hardworking retailers who collect your sales taxes—small businesses that are the backbone of Main Street, not Wall Street fat cats. Repealing the insurance home office credit and forcing high earners to "add back" federal deductions? Sure, it sounds like sticking it to the rich, but it ignores how these incentives lured jobs and investment to our state in the first place. Now, with revenue "raises" like selling tax credits at a discount (hello, $100 million in one-time cash from insurers prepaying at 75 cents on the dollar), we're just borrowing from tomorrow's budget to paper over today's mess. Republicans were right to push back, demanding we gut the refundable family tax credit that's drained $660 million last year alone—instead of hiking taxes, why not prioritize and cut the fat?

And don't get me started on the cuts. $103 million slashed from Medicaid, housing, and colleges? That's not leadership; that's Democrats finally admitting their dream of endless entitlements is unsustainable, but only after the federal bill forced their hand. Governor Polis is now set to hack another $252 million via executive order, sparing K-12 (thank God for small mercies) but hammering vulnerable folks who rely on these programs. Meanwhile, progressive darlings like the Bell Policy Center crow about "preserving" education funding—while conveniently forgetting TABOR's ironclad limits were designed to prevent exactly this kind of overreach. If lawmakers had listened to conservatives years ago and reformed TABOR the right way—instead of whining about its "constitutionality"—we wouldn't be dipping into reserves (down from 15% to 13% of the general fund) like a family maxing out the credit card.

The AI delay? A rare win for common sense, courtesy of business groups like the Colorado Realtors who testified against the 2024 law's job-killing burdens on deployers—from real estate pros using safety tools to startups drowning in compliance red tape. Pushing enforcement to mid-2026 buys time to fix this mess, shifting liability back to developers where it belongs and sparing small businesses from frivolous lawsuits over "algorithmic discrimination." But even here, Democrats couldn't resist meddling—SB25B-004 still mandates disclosures and joint liability, proving their allergy to free-market innovation. Tech lobbying killed deeper reforms, but it's a reminder: Colorado's first-in-the-nation AI rules were always more about virtue-signaling than protecting consumers.

On the health front, kudos for the $100 million infusion to cap those obscene 28% premium hikes and bolstering SNAP amid federal work requirements—practical moves that shield families without exploding the budget. Redirecting wolf reintroduction cash? Now that's Republican-style efficiency—prioritizing Coloradans over critters. And funding Planned Parenthood with state Medicaid bucks? Debatable, but at least it's a firewall against federal overreach.

Bottom line: This session exposed the rot in Colorado's one-party rule. Eleven bills passed, a shortfall half-plugged, and zero long-term vision. Republicans offered real alternatives—spending restraint, not revenue raids—but were sidelined. As the Arvada Chamber warns, these "business tax breaks" rollbacks will stifle growth just when we need it most. Come 2026, voters must demand balanced budgets, tax relief, and deregulation. Otherwise, we'll keep special-sessioning our way to bankruptcy. Colorado's too beautiful—and its people too hardworking—for this progressive folly. Let's make fiscal conservatism great again in the Rockies.