benefit

The next governor and legislature should commit to eliminating the cliff effect from all state programs. They should review all the programs and laws involved and the interactions among them, and implement a comprehensive solution as soon as possible. A key component should be a sliding eligibility scale that gradually phases out benefits so that a family never loses more than it gains when its income increases.

Colorado???s political, business and community leaders should encourage employers to use automatic enrollment for 401(k) pension plans. We should also educate workers about the value of participating in these plans and of increasing contributions over time to meet retirement needs. Automatic enrollment is allowed under federal law, and pension reform legislation currently pending before Congress provides additional incentives to do so.

Colorado should continue to carefully target economic development incentives to create jobs that contribute to the overall economic well-being of the state. Let???s also make sure economic development incentives continue to be transparent, so we know which businesses receive incentives, how much they get, and how many and what kind of jobs they create. And let???s protect taxpayers by continuing to require companies to repay incentives if they fail to create the jobs promised.