Author: Michael Fields
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Perspective: Some priorities for our lawmakers
When legislators return to work at the Capitol this week, the question — as always — will be: Will they finally focus on issues that matter to people’s everyday lives? Polling and the results of recent ballot measures highlight the main concerns citizens wish legislators would deal with. These include common-sense solutions to growing problems…
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Perspective: Don’t pass the buck for our busted budget
Just three years ago, Coloradans were receiving $750 TABOR refund checks in the mail because the state had a surplus of $3.6 billion. Now, legislators are being called back to the Capitol for a special session to deal with a $783 million deficit. The contrast couldn’t be starker. The good news is that the budget…
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GUEST OPINION: ‘If politicians won’t do it, the people still can’
Grassroots Coloradans made their voices heard in 2024. The year was marked by voters across the political spectrum demanding commonsense reforms to address real-world problems — including sky-high property taxes and soaring crime rates — that the far-left Legislature wanted to duck. It was a reminder to elected officials that the people are ultimately in…
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PERSPECTIVE: The agenda Colorado needs in 2024
Building a better Colorado in 2024 requires placing the policy priorities on the needs of taxpayers, parents, and local communities, with the goal of reigniting the state’s economy and keeping government in check. This is at the heart of Advance Colorado’s legislative policy agenda on fiscal policy, crime and education. As a new legislative session…
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GUEST COLUMN: Why we’re suing over Prop HH
In 2019, politicians referred a ballot measure to Colorado voters to permanently end TABOR tax refunds. Despite fluffy ballot language and a $5M campaign budget, the measure failed by a significant margin. In 2022, these same politicians decided to shift course and rebrand our constitutionally protected TABOR tax refunds as the “Colorado Cash Back” —…
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Time for truth in sentencing in Colorado
In 2014, Kenneth Dean Lee was convicted and sentenced to 23 years to life for posing as an immigration doctor and sexually assaulting multiple children. George Brauchler, the district attorney in charge of prosecuting Lee in 2014, told CBS that he “had never come across another person who was more conniving, more deliberate, more planned…
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PERSPECTIVE: Our TABOR — our refunds | Michael Fields
If you had hoped that liberal legislators had an honest change of heart regarding Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), I’m sorry to be the one to disappoint you. Two months ago, our Facebook feeds, television news programs, and cellphones were littered with advertisements from liberal candidates championing the $750 checks that were sent to…
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COLUMN: It’s time for Colorado to cut property taxes
We recently turned in over 190,000 signatures (124,632 valid signatures are required) to put Initiative 27 on this November’s ballot. This ballot measure would cut property taxes by 9%, while also allowing the state to keep an extra $25 million per year to help fund the Homestead Tax Exemption for seniors and disabled veterans. As…