Reports coming out of the Colorado Capitol this week indicate our state's budget deficit is even worse than we thought.
You recall last year when Governor Polis called a Special Legislative Session to deal with a $1 billion deficit?
This year it could be as large as $1.5 billion.
Not long ago, in FY 2022–2023, Colorado had nearly a $4 billion budget surplus.
Now, the exact same people who blew that stockpile of cash are complaining they don't have enough of your money and need more.
We should take every opportunity to tell them “NO.”
Colorado's Budget
You might be asking: “What’s driving the increase?”
The obvious answer is lack of good leadership.
About 1/3 of our state's approximately $50 billion budget is Medicaid costs. Those costs continue to rise every year while lawmakers in the majority have no solution to curbing or decreasing costs. Instead, they prefer to add more noncitizens to the total cost.
At the same time, Medicaid fraud is being exposed across the country, including one high-profile case where Colorado providers allegedly billed millions of dollars through the non-emergency medical transportation program.
A federal audit found another $77.8 million in improper Medicaid payments in Colorado, of which the state is required to pay back $42.6 million.
K-12 education also makes up about $10 billion of the budget.
While Governor Polis has held office, total funding for public education has nearly doubled, while test scores are down across the board. It couldn't be clearer that funding isn't the problem with our schools.
Another major issue is Democrats tying temporary COVID funding to long-term programs. Now those funds have run out, as expected, but the spending remains.
Keep Defending TABOR
This is precisely why it is so important to continue to fight to defend TABOR.
Once that guardrail is gone, spending will go completely unchecked, forever.
This November, your ballot will have several questions on it related to whether you want to raise taxes (especially on other people), raise fees, and potentially even a question related to a graduated income tax structure because "tax the rich!".
Since we all know revenue is not the problem our government is having, we hope you will continue to hold the line and force our elected officials to make do with the finances they are already given by We the Taxpayers.
For Freedom,
Colorado Freedom Force
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