Amendments

On January 1, 74,000 low-wage workers in Colorado will get a 3.8 percent raise when the state's minimum wage goes up by 28¢ to $7.64 per hour. For employees who work full-time all year, this amounts to $582 more per year.

Voters approved Amendment 42 to Colorado's constitution in 2006, raising the minimum wage and requiring that the wage to be adjusted each year by the rate of inflation in Colorado. Inflation increased by 3.8 percent between July 2010 and June 2011, according to the Boulder-Denver-Greeley Consumer Price Index.

By Alex Miller
Editor, Summit Daily News

By Debi Brazzale
Colorado News Agency

Lawmakers, businesses and academics continue to spar over a tax hike on November's statewide ballot. Proponents say it will provide a needed, temporary boost to public school funding while critics say it will end up costing jobs in an already tight economy.

Independence Institute President Jon Caldara has been on a tear recently on state Senator Rollie Heath's (D-Boulder) proposed $3 Billion tax hike known as Prop 103.

From the recently published i2i study hammering home the point that Prop 103 is a job-killer, the second study showing devastating impacts of Prop 103, to convincing a 5-time world Domino champion to visually demonstrate the effect Prop 103 would have on employment, Caldara and the Independence Institute have been absolutely spanking the Boulder Senators' foolish tax hike plan.

The Bell Policy Center today is releasing a report that reviews research on tax increases and their impact on job growth and economic development. Proposition 103, the only statewide ballot initiative, would raise taxes, returning income and sales tax rates to levels that existed in 1999. The revenue raised would help counteract deep cuts to the state's education system.

Click here to read report

Proposition 103 on November's ballot will raise about $500 million annually for education over the next five years. It does this by increasing Colorado's income tax rate from 4.63% to 5% and the state sales tax rate from 2.9% to 3%. These are the rates that existed throughout the 1990s – a period of strong economic growth in Colorado.

By Mark Wolf
Health Policy Solutions

The sun is barely up and the Friday workday is yawning, but inside Snooze Eatery, the activity level belies the name on the door.

You'll be getting your ballot any day now, and we'd like to remind you of two important issues.

One is Proposition 103, the only statewide measure this year. It would raise $536 million each year through 2016 to halt steep cuts to K-12 and higher education. Colorado's tax rates would temporarily return to 1999 levels, with the sales tax rising from 2.9% to 3% and personal and corporate income taxes increasing from 4.63% to 5%.

By Victoria A.F. Camron
Longmont Times-Call

LONGMONT – Across Colorado, voters are being asked to decide one statewide issue this November: whether to raise taxes to increase public education funding.

The measure, introduced by state Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, seeks to restore Colorado's sales, use and income taxes to 1999 levels: Sales and use tax rates would be 3 percent, up from 2.9 percent – a 3.4 percent increase – and the income tax rate would be 5 percent, up from 4.63 percent – an 8 percent increase – for five years beginning in January.

By Ernest Luning
The Colorado Statesman

Opponents of a statewide ballot measure that would raise an estimated $3 billion in new taxes to fund education launched an attack against the proposal this week, claiming it will cost Colorado 119,000 jobs after five years and deal a "crushing blow" to the state's struggling economy.

But backers of Proposition 103 charged that opponents don't understand how to interpret their own data and countered that it's cutbacks to school funding, not higher taxes, that will harm the state's economy.