It’s an off year for elections, but Coloradans have a chance to help neighboring states: Amendment 66 on the state ballot would increase taxes in Colorado. Colorado’s current income tax is a flat 4.63%; the ballot initiative would increase this to 5% on the first $75,000 of income and 5.9% above that. Shock of shocks, the initiative is supported by teachers…because they want pay increases because they want better education for children through lower class sizes and better paid trained teachers.
The initiative only increases individual income taxes, but today most businesses are flow-through entities. These are partnerships, LLCs (my business is an LLC), and S-Corporations. They pay taxes on the individual level and generally not on the corporate level. What happens when taxes goes up? Let’s put it bluntly: It’s not good for the economy overall. Private industry is far more efficient than the government, so when taxes go up, overall the economy suffers. The Tax Foundation today released a report that mirrors my thinking on this.
The voters of Colorado will get to decide this on November 5th.