Tracking what's destroying Colorado
A curated collection of bills, news, and resources about Colorado politics and policy
A curated collection of bills, news, and resources about Colorado politics and policy
Colorado Budget news, legislation, and policy updates.
11 articles tagged with "Budget"
The Colorado Chamber Foundation just dropped a damning relocation tracker showing that since 2019, 98 companies have either left the state or chosen to expand somewhere else. That’s over 13,600 jobs gone — with 27 companies bailing in just the past year alone. The eye-popping map shows the flood heading to low-tax, pro-growth states like Texas (21 companies, including Leprino Foods and its 600 jobs), Florida, Arizona, and beyond.
A Denver Post report (highlighted by the Adams County GOP) exposes how Colorado home insurance premiums have exploded faster than anywhere in the U.S. under Democratic leadership. Average costs have doubled since 2020 and are on track to top $4,000 per year in 2026—now higher than California’s $2,455. Families are ditching vacations, delaying car buys, and facing quotes as high as $11,000. The post pins the blame on a toxic mix of skyrocketing property taxes, soft-on-crime policies that let roofing fraud and “storm chasers” run wild, open-border spending that prioritizes non-citizens over taxpayers, and the same failed big-government playbook that ruined California. It calls Colorado a “high-risk zone” on par with Florida and urges voters to hold Democrats accountable or watch the Centennial State become unaffordable for working families.
A bombshell non-partisan state audit just exposed Colorado’s Department of Labor and Employment (run by Democrats) for “Material Weakness” — the most severe red flag in government accounting. The agency botched the books by billions: $1.5 billion overestimated in payments, $2.5 billion in expenses understated, $1.6 billion in revenue understated, and $800 million in bad debt completely ignored. Their excuse? “We’ll fix it… by 2027.” Democrats have known about these failures since 2023 and still refuse basic fixes. Taxpayers are footing the bill for this clown show.
A new Colorado Senate bill (SB26-135) just dropped a bombshell fiscal note: if passed, it would permanently kill future TABOR refunds under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. Taxpayers would lose an estimated $800 million in the first year alone — money that legally belongs to Coloradans when the state collects more than allowed. The bill is being fast-tracked as a de facto tax hike during economic strain, with a public hearing scheduled for today (March 12, 2026). Free State Colorado is sounding the alarm and urging citizens to testify against it.
In this "Mountain Minute" segment from Rocky Mountain Voice, the host highlights several Colorado headlines pointing to government overreach and fiscal burdens. Key issues include taxpayers missing out on TABOR refunds due to Gov. Jared Polis' budget keeping spending just below the cap; Denver's sanctuary city legal defense costs hitting a $2 million taxpayer-funded limit; the state rejecting Tina Peters' appeal based on Trump's federal pardon not applying to state charges; new strict methane rules for landfills raising rural costs; debates over forced electrification increasing energy expenses and grid risks; a federal freeze on childcare funds over fraud; ballooning costs for the Arkansas Valley water project; potential return of school meal taxes to the ballot; a new bill toughening penalties for child trafficking; and national shifts in vaccine policies emphasizing fewer routine shots and natural immunity.
In a segment on Colorado Point of View (a weekly political analysis show on FOX31 Denver and CW2), conservative analyst Michael Fields highlights how Colorado Democrats, despite inheriting a massive $3.6 billion budget surplus, overspent dramatically and are now openly discussing the need to raise taxes on residents. Fields criticizes this as fiscal irresponsibility, pointing to unchecked government spending under one-party Democratic control.
In a decisive 9-2 vote, the Colorado Springs City Council passed a resolution opposing Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser's lawsuit against President Trump's relocation of U.S. Space Command to Huntsville, Alabama, urging collaboration over litigation. Councilman Roland Rainey, who sponsored the measure, emphasized productive advocacy, noting congressional leaders' efforts to attract new military projects to the city and warning that lawsuits could derail them. Supporters like Councilman David Leinweber called for bipartisanship to "move the ball forward," while dissenters Nancy Henjum and Kimberly Gold opposed it, with Gold citing insufficient prior notice. The lawsuit, filed by Democratic AG Weiser, claims the Trump administration bypassed required evaluations, studies, and justifications in the September 2025 decision—prompted by Trump's criticisms of Colorado's mail-in voting system, which audits have deemed secure. Mayor Yemi Mobolade expressed regret over the move but deferred to state leaders on legal action, vowing to focus on supporting local defense missions. The resolution highlights tensions between state Democrats pushing back legally and local leaders prioritizing economic stability in a city where Space Command employs thousands and drives billions in economic activity.
Colorado politicians, including Democrats led by Governor Polis, faced criticism and intense debate over the proposed state budget, with officials unsatisfied over aspects of government spending, efficiency, and concerns that budget allocations could enable waste or misuse of taxpayer funds.
On July 1, 2025, Colorado's congressional delegation split sharply along party lines over the U.S. Senate's narrow 50-50 passage (broken by VP JD Vance's tiebreaker) of the Republican-led "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBBA)—a 900-page federal reconciliation package that permanently extends 2017 Trump tax cuts, adds new breaks like no tax on tips, slashes $1.2 trillion over a decade from Medicaid, SNAP food stamps, and clean energy programs, and boosts border security/deportation funding to $350 billion—sending it back to the House (which passed a variant in May by one vote) for reconciliation amid projections of $3.3 trillion added to the national debt. Democrats Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper decried it as "cruel trickle-down economics" harming working families, kicking 17 million off health care, closing rural hospitals, killing clean energy jobs, and ballooning debt for wealthy tax breaks; Gov. Jared Polis echoed the fury, slamming it for raising insurance costs and hurting kids' food access. Republicans Reps. Lauren Boebert and Gabe Evans hailed it as a "pro-family blueprint" for growth, fraud-proof Medicaid reform, and prosperity via tax cuts and border security, with Boebert fundraising off the fight despite protests.
The post by @schotts on August 6, 2025, critically examines Colorado's $1.0 billion budget shortfall, attributing it to years of reckless spending under Democratic control rather than external factors like Trump or TABOR. The author highlights a 50% budget increase from $30 billion in 2018 to $44 billion in 2025, with General Fund spending rising 44% from $11.1 billion to $16.0 billion, far exceeding inflation or population growth. Key issues include unsustainable Medicaid expansion (now covering nearly 1 in 3 Coloradans), bloated programs, and progressive policies driving the highest inflation in the U.S. from 2020-2024. The post argues this reflects a deliberate strategy to create government dependency, dismissing Democratic finger-pointing as a cover for fiscal irresponsibility. Supporting images show Colorado's party control since 1992 and state inflation rankings.
Colorado House Bill 25B-1005 eliminates the state sales tax vendor fee starting January 1, 2026, requiring retailers to remit all collected state sales tax and reallocating a small share to the Housing Development Grant Fund, with the change estimated to increase annual state revenue by about $57 million and add roughly $2 million per year to housing grants[2]. This measure will have a small financial impact on most businesses, particularly small retailers, and provides a modest boost to affordable housing programs[2].