Simple is better. Laws and regulations, departments and agencies all get layered one upon another until it makes no sense. The government is here to serve the citizens, and so anything the state does that actually makes life more difficult should be eliminated. Most importantly, and this will be a hard concept to digest for some of you, taxes and regulations on business reduce job creation and ultimately are paid for by the citizens in the costs of products. So every time you think “let business pay their fair share,” you are promoting a myth.
Eliminate all taxes and fees except for the personal income, real estate, so- called sin taxes, and gasoline. Every other tax goes. Unemployment and workman’s compensation are insurance programs, so they will remain unchanged. Sales taxes, business income taxes, business personal property taxes, vehicle taxes, communications taxes, utility taxes, registration fees, user fees, and license fees all go. Natural resource leases and royalties can remain.
In order to fund government, personal income taxes would need to rise, but let me explain why this is better for you and for jobs.
Businesses will find Colorado is the lowest-cost location in the country, so they will relocate here and the ones that are already here will find it is less expensive to expand, creating more jobs. Yes, we will create lots of jobs! Businesses will also find it easier to compete with foreign imports.
The state will have less to do, no more processing of sales-tax forms, personal-property tax returns, communications taxes, vehicle registrations, user fees, park entrance stickers, and lots of other forms and paperwork that they process today. This will allow for a true freeze on state hiring and a move to smaller government.
Within limits of current contracts, toll roads would disappear and no new ones would be allowed. Use gas taxes for what they were designed for, to build and maintain transportation infrastructure for all of us to use.
Businesses would no longer collect or pay sales taxes, so everything you pay money for will cost you less. Border areas of the state will see a boom as those across state lines come to Colorado to buy. Tourism may also increase because of this.
Because equipment purchases are not taxed, it will be less expensive for businesses to invest. They can automate more and build plants at a lower cost.
Make the income tax in Colorado progressive, so that those that make a higher income pay a higher percentage. Keep it simple, though — say, three tax brackets. This is best done through a constitutional amendment. In the future, if the state needed more money, then it would have to ask us for it.
Sales taxes and fees frequently go to county and city governments. This could be replaced by an additional percentage placed on the income tax and allocated to those jurisdictions. These rates also would require voter approval to change in the future, but only the voters of that county or city.
There would be such an opportunity for simplicity at the state level. I would not be surprised if the state could get by with 20 percent less staffing than it has today. However, we would not want to add to the unemployment rolls, so simply freeze all state hiring through legislation.
Government creates all of these taxes and fees because when they nickel-and- dime us to death, we do not realize how much of our money they take from us. By simplifying the tax structure, we provide a path to smaller government and we see how much of our money the government is getting. Everything is out in the open for everyone to see. Most of all, we will be creating jobs and putting all of us on a path to greater prosperity.
