Author: Michael Fields
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Don’t force Colorado school districts to raise taxes | Guest column
“Raise your taxes or we’ll cut your state funding.” That’s the message politicians would be sending school districts under a new proposal that is being worked on for the 2020 legislative session. Back in 1994, Colorado enacted the Public School Finance Act, which sets out the formula for how schools are funded across our state.…
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GUEST COLUMN: Coloradans should get their TABOR refunds
If you read Proposition CC’s ballot language, you’ll be hard pressed to figure out what it’s really asking. It doesn’t say it’s permanent, it doesn’t mention the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, and it doesn’t point out that it’s a tax increase. In fact, it deceptively begins by saying, “Without raising taxes…,” even though state government…
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GUEST COLUMN: Blame legislators for our state’s crumbling roads
As our state’s roads continue to get worse and worse, Coloradans are wondering when the Legislature is finally going to make them a priority. This month, a portion of U.S. 36 collapsed, briefly shutting down the main connection between Boulder and Denver. The road was built only a couple of years ago through a public-private…
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GUEST COLUMN: Education spending is up, but teacher pay is down
It’s May in Colorado, which means two things: our state legislature just wrapped up its annual lawmaking session, and teachers will soon get a well-deserved break from the classroom. What’s the connection? Despite the legislature putting more money into education each year, teacher salaries are actually going down in Colorado. You read that correctly —…
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GUEST COLUMN: Opportunity Zones can help Colorado’s struggling communities
Even though our state’s economy is ranked No. 1 in the nation, too many Coloradans are being left behind. I believe that, as a state, we should be judged not on how the people at the top are doing, but on how much opportunity the least fortunate have access to. It is long past time…
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GUEST COLUMN: Where do Colorado Republicans go from here?
It’s said that elections are MRIs for the soul. Well, this month’s election clearly gave Colorado Republicans plenty to think about. Democrats swept every statewide race on the ballot, took over the state senate, grew their majority in the state house, and knocked off a five-term congressional incumbent. Immediately, the question was asked: Has Colorado…
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GUEST COLUMN: Thankful our state has TABOR
Wonder why ballots are so long in Colorado? Part of the reason is because of the Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. This constitutional amendment does two things: 1) It requires a vote of the people to raise taxes, and 2) It limits revenue growth to inflation plus population growth. Put simply, to grow government, a…
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GUEST COLUMN: Amendment 73’s massive tax hike is not the right answer for education funding
As a former elementary school teacher, I believe that teachers should get paid more. And as a father of three, I want my kid’s teachers to be fairly compensated for the important work that they do. But we need to be clear about something – Amendment 73’s massive tax hike is not the best way…
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GUEST COLUMN: Support Gorsuch, Colorado native, for Supreme Court
In nominating Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court, President Trump chose a fourth-generation Coloradan to fill the seat left vacant by Justice Scalia’s passing last year. Yet even after the two met last week, Colorado’s U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet has still not declared his support for Judge Gorsuch’s confirmation. The question every Coloradan…
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GUEST COLUMN: Raising the minimum wage in Colorado will hurt, not help
Proponents of Amendment 70 are compelled to raise the state’s minimum wage to $12 hour, claiming it will help those struggling to make ends meet. Over the past eight years, wages have stagnated and many are having difficulty finding work. Still, it has been proven time and time again that government intrusion into the free…