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CO Libertarians


Thu, 18 Sep 2008

Amendment 58

Posted to Politics category
Theres been a lot of hubbub on TV for and against Amendment 58.

Amendment 58, Gov. Bill Ritter's Smarter Colorado plan, would eliminate an existing property tax-severance tax offset for energy and mining companies and increase the tax on some low-volume wells. The additional revenue would be used for college scholarships, wildlife habitat, renewable energy programs and transportation and water projects in communities affected by energy development.

It's a proposed change in state law, not a constitutional amendment.
Estimated first-year revenue is $290 million, about $157 million for the scholarships.

One side says Colorado has been giving $300 million a year to the oil companies in a tax break.

The other side claims this is a $290 million tax increase.

This site gives a good review on both sides

I think I'll be voting to get rid of the tax break for oil companies. My company doesn't get a tax break so why should any others.

Posted at: 2:53 pm

4 comments

Comments

Re: Amendment 58
Bob Alexander wrote on Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:35

I think you should vote to keep the tax break. If they were eliminating the tax break for oil companies, and using the revenue to cut everyone's taxes evenly, that would be fair. But if they're eliminating the tax break just to pad the government's wallet, there's no benefit to it. They're just baiting you, by making the oil companies the target, for their own benefit.

Reply

Re: Amendment 58
Shawn wrote on Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:32

I think I should get a tax break. Hell, I'll take $1 million, I'm not greedy.

Reply
  • Re: Re: Amendment 58
    Bob Alexander wrote on Fri, 19 Sep 2008 09:25

    Unfortunately, getting your own tax break isn't an option in this election.

    BTW, you figure Obama won't raise your taxes. But you should always oppose tax increase on anyone, for three reasons.

    First, a tax increase on anyone increases the amount of money the government has, and that's bad.

    Second, a tax increase on anyone hurts the economy, so it affects you indirectly.

    Third, politicians use a divide-and-conquer strategy for raising taxes. Today, they target a group that doesn't include you. Tomorrow, they'll target a different group that may include you. Every time, they count on untargeted people to be supportive or at least apathetic.

    Reply

Re: Amendment 58
Shawn wrote on Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:59

I see it as this has two parts.

1) stopping the tax break for oil companies. 2) applying the savings to higher education and various other stuff.

I'm all for the first point. I'm not really for the second point, I also would prefer the tax savings to go back to the taxpayers. However, that's not being offered as a choice. I slightly more in favor of getting rid of an unfair tax break then I am worried about what the goverment is going to do with the savings.

So I'm voting for this, and taking the middle ground.

Reply

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