Much like their counterparts in Washington DC, Colorado House Democrats just don’t seem to be getting the message. Just yesterday they passed all twelve of their “Dirty Dozen” tax bills on a straight party line vote, raising an additional $430 million dollars in tax revenues. Rep Joel Judd of Denver thinks Coloradans aren’t being taxed enough. Do you think this will satisfy him?
These Democrats are marching in lockstep over a cliff to their and their party’s destruction. I don’t get it. The conference rooms were filled to overflowing with ordinary citizens testifying against the tax increases. Their base is being told the people testifying are lobbyists and agents of big business; surely the politicians know the truth. Ironically, in more normal times lobbyists are exactly who do show up. Not now.
The Democrats are going to spin this as not raising taxes but rather “closing loopholes.” There is something wrong with that: they’re not “loopholes” in the sense that someone forgot to close a gap; they’re “exemptions” purposely made for a specific reason, perhaps for a specific constituency or because the tax might be difficult to collect or even unconstitutional. In eliminating the exemptions, more voters are going to be angry.
Are they also going to brand the Republicans as the Party of No because the Republican representatives voted against the bills? I suspect that’s a title the GOP will welcome.
Rep Judd isn’t running for re-election: that’s probably why he feels he can let his inner statist come out of the closet. Others are in gerrymandered safe districts without a challenger on the horizon. But more are being challenged: in House District 13 Robert Houdeshell has just declared to run against Claire Levy, who co-sponsored two of the bills and voted for all twelve. The people of House District 13 are going to be able to choose whether they want to be represented by a tax-and-spent liberal socialist or not.
Does Claire think they’ll forget by November? I’m betting they’ll remember every time they buy a soda or a candy bar.
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