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Count on taxes rising if Amendment 59 passes

The Rocky Mountain News printed my letter to the editor earlier this week about Colorado Amendment 59.  Click here for the on-line version with reader comments.  A scan of the print version is here.

A DIFFERING VIEW: Count on taxes rising if Amendment 59 passes

The Rocky should regret endorsing the deceptive Amendment 59 (editorial, Sept. 19).

Like other proponents, the Rocky claims that 59 “is not a tax hike.” The Rocky continues, “it would eliminate rebates that taxpayers otherwise would receive whenever a [Taxpayer's Bill of Rights] surplus occurs.”

How is this not a tax hike? The amendment’s supporters claim the money that would otherwise go to rebates would fund “education.” Yet the Rocky reports that it would “allow legislatures more opportunities for investing in other priorities.”

That is, not education. Instead of spending your own money on your priorities, politicians would spend your money on their priorities.  Amendment 59 would force you to donate to government-run schools, regardless
of your satisfaction with them. If you’d prefer to provide for your family, or donate your refund to schools or scholarships that politicians don’t favor, tough. Amendment 59 forbids it.

The amendment’s Web site claims to “protect our taxpayers.” From what, spending our money as we please?

For more on this, see VoteNo59.com.

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• Support tax-funded schools? Then donate your own money.
• Subsidize consumers, not producers (if you must subsidize)
• Amendment 49 | The Ivory Tower Explanation
• Colorado Amendment 59 vs. liberty and prosperity
• VoteNo59.com | Colorado Amendment 59