A sampling of recent editorials from Colorado newspapers:
NATIONAL:
The Denver Post, April 17, on the proposed “Buffett rule”:
The “Buffett rule” is dead for the moment, having failed Monday to muster enough votes in the Senate. If we’re lucky, it will stay dead, too.
Don’t get us wrong. We agree the rich should pay higher taxes than the average working stiff. For the most part, in fact, they do. Even so, raising taxes on the rich will no doubt have to be part of any overall answer to America’s colossal federal deficit.
But the Buffett rule—which would mandate that anyone making more than $1 million a year pay a tax rate of at least 30 percent—is fiscal reform stuffed with empty calories. It may taste good to Americans with a populist bent, but it contains little nutrition, and could induce unhealthy side effects, too.
For tax reform to be meaningful in terms of deficit relief, lots of Americans—not just the very wealthy—will have to pay somewhat more. The math is inescapable, no matter what most politicians usually imply.
That being the case, it makes little sense to nibble at the tax code by way of a single adjustment promoted by the president mostly to score political points. Had the Buffett rule been enacted, it would have collected, according to two widely quoted estimates, only $31 billion or $47 billion over the next 10 or 11 years.
Yet that’s a trivial portion of the trillions of dollars in debt that will accumulate over that period if nothing is done.
President Obama agrees that “just imposing the Buffett rule won’t do enough to close the deficit,” but argues that “the notion that it doesn’t solve the entire problem doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do it at all.”
We disagree. To begin with, an alternative minimum tax rate of 30 percent for the rich is primarily a way of taxing their investment income at that rate. Is that wise? The tax code has carved out a special rate for capital gains to encourage investment. Any move to erode or eliminate that difference ought to be part of a broader tax-reform debate.
A better way to boost taxes on the wealthy is to eliminate some of the loopholes and deductions they exploit—in other words, to simplify the tax code. For that matter, if a hike in the capital gains tax eventually is included as part of broader tax reform, it clearly shouldn’t involve a leap from 15 percent to 30 percent.
It’s unfortunate that tax policy and deficit reduction in this election year have been reduced to a debate that is irrelevant to fiscal health. Americans need to be told the truth: that if we’re serious about growing federal debt, we’ve got to have entitlement reform that reduces benefits and tax reform that raises more revenue—even from many in the middle class.
Editorial:
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The Coloradoan, April 12, on the nation’s air tankers:
U.S. Sen. Mark Udall is right to voice concerns about the nation’s aging fleet of air tankers.
The Colorado senator wrote a letter last Thursday to the U.S. Forest Chief Tom Tidwell saying he was worried that the air tankers, which are used to fight wildfires, are too old and unsafe. With the Colorado wildfire season already under way, the senator is correctly wondering if a fleet of tankers that has dwindled from 44 to 11 is adequate to support wildland firefighters on the ground.
Udall has some fairly intimate knowledge of the air tanker system used by the Forest Service. Last year, he ordered a study, which found that the air tankers were key to fighting the Fourmile Canyon fire near Boulder last summer. With fewer planes in the air, Colorado could be at risk if another major wildfire breaks out.
This isn’t the first time the Forest Service has heard such a plea; and in fact, the federal government is working to replace the planes, some of which are from the 1940s and 1950s. Still, Udall, as a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is using his position to remind both the Forest Service and the public of wildfire threats and the importance of being well prepared to fight them.
Editorial:
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STATE:
The Pueblo Chieftain, April 16, on using money from the Department of Corrections budget:
Now that Colorado Department of Corrections officials have found that the prison population has taken a dip, Republicans and Democrats in the Colorado House have decided they want to dip their ladles into the DOC budget for their own favorite programs.
Democrats wanted to raid $9 million from the money the state pays private prisons to pay for everything from early childhood literacy to small-business development, veterans’ assistance and services for developmentally disabled adults. Meanwhile, Republicans countered by shifting $5.5 million from prisons to a veterans court and all-day kindergarten.
Another amendment calls for state prisons in Trinidad and Sterling to reduce their inmate capacity by 200 and the Buena Vista Correctional Facility to cut 117 slots. This is an unacceptable assault on rural Colorado.
We’d remind legislators that the Fort Lyon Correctional Facility has been closed and two private prisons in the Arkansas Valley are facing budget pressures due to low state financial support.
The irony here is that the money saved at Trinidad, Sterling and Buena Vista would go to a veterans’ court program in El Paso County, which is federally funded and did not seek the increase.
All of these moves are premature. Members of the Joint Budget Committee of both parties argued against any changes to the budget they crafted and they urged their lawmakers to be patient and wait for results of a prison utilization study that currently is pending in the Legislature.
The amended budget was passed by the House and sent to the Senate. We wouldn’t be surprised if state senators go into a similar fund-feeding frenzy, figuring prison budgets can be cannibalized for their favorite causes.
But the Joint Budget Committee will have the last say, for it will act as the committee of reconciliation to sort out what the House has done and the Senate is about to do. The JBC system has worked well for Colorado, because one committee takes all of the competing funding requests and put some sense of balance to them.
Meanwhile, the JBC is right. Lawmakers in both houses would do well to wait until the prison utilization study is undertaken.
Current prison populations are down, but that doesn’t mean they won’t go back up again when Coloradans will depend on adequate incarceration to keep our streets safe.
Editorial:
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Greeley Tribune, April 16, on a bill to allow students without legal status to pay a reduced tuition rate:
The time has come.
Last week, Senate Bill 15 passed on a 20-14 party line vote. This controversial bill would allow students who do not have legal immigrant status to attend a Colorado college or university for less than out-of-state tuition, but more than in-state tuition.
It has now been assigned to the House Education Committee, where its future isn’t so certain. The committee chairman, Republican Rep. Tom Massey, has said he will support the bill this year. Other Republicans have voiced support or have said they are not decided.
In the Republican-dominated state House, bipartisan support for the bill is essential for it to pass. We hope our Republican representatives will look at what this bill could do for not only individuals, but for the entire state.
Yes, we think the time for giving a break to illegal immigrants seeking an education in our state has come.
Many of these students seeking a college education have been in the United States for many years. Some don’t even remember their native country. Most probably were brought by parents and didn’t have a say in the matter. They deserve a chance at an education.
We know this bill doesn’t answer the question of how these students will get a job once they graduate with a degree, but it does encourage the students to apply for legal status once they are in college.
We want these students to not only be educated, but able to contribute to society through their chosen careers.
If they can get an education and eventually a work visa, then that makes them a better citizen. They will contribute to our workforce and to our economy.
We also realize this is a Band-Aid on a problem that Washington just can’t seem to fix. For many years, citizens have been calling for comprehensive immigration reform that would include a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for many immigrants already in the country.
Yet, our national representatives can’t seem to find the time or will to make this happen. Now, we’ve created a piecemeal immigration policy that varies drastically from state to state as local governments try to address an issue our national leaders refuse to take up.
We support legislation that would help undocumented residents to get a college education. We also support a permanent fix to the immigration issue.
We would love to see our Colorado representatives and senators take up the cause and work toward a comprehensive national immigration policy that would answer many of the questions that states are trying to address.
Our agricultural leaders are calling for it, our business leaders are calling for it, our citizens are calling for it.
The time has come.
Editorial:
