XPost: co.politics, alt.politics.trump, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.politics.republicans, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: leroysoetoro@americans-first.com   
      
   https://townhall.com/columnists/barry-poulson/2025/10/08/charlie-kirk-was-   
   right-soaking-the-rich-is-a-losing-proposition-evidence-from-colorado-   
   n2664623   
      
   The left wants to soak the rich by imposing high-income tax rates on   
   upper-income families. Some even advocate the punitive income tax rates   
   that were in effect after World War Two. Of course, upper-income families   
   found ways to avoid such high-income tax rates through loopholes and   
   deductions. But high income tax rates imposed on high income families have   
   perverse effects that the left chooses to ignore. This is clear in the   
   experience of Colorado with graduated income tax rates.   
      
   When President Reagan enacted federal income tax reform in the 1980s, this   
   had a significant impact on Colorado’s income tax. Those reforms lowered   
   federal income tax rates and broadened the base by eliminating loopholes   
   and exemptions. Colorado experienced a windfall because the Colorado   
   income tax was tied to the federal income tax base; broadening the base   
   automatically increased Colorado’s income tax revenues. Colorado   
   legislators asked the obvious question: Why should Colorado citizens pay   
   higher income taxes simply because of federal income tax reform? At that   
   time, Colorado had a graduated income tax with a top rate of 10%, one of   
   the highest top income tax rates in the country. Colorado legislators   
   replaced that graduated income tax with a flat rate tax set at 5%. The   
   broadening in the tax base offset the reduction in the tax rate.  Even   
   with that flat rate tax, Colorado experienced some windfall from federal   
   tax reform and subsequently reduced the flat rate below 5%.   
      
   The flat rate income tax set the stage for rapid economic growth in   
   Colorado. It is not surprising that the most rapid growth in income   
   occurred in higher-income families. The reduction in their income tax rate   
   stimulated increased savings, investment, and productive activity. Also,   
   high-income families were less able to take advantage of tax loopholes and   
   exemptions. Because the high-income families earned significantly higher   
   incomes, they paid higher income taxes. What is surprising to many is that   
   the higher-income families paid a greater share of total income taxes in   
   Colorado after the adoption of the flat-rate income tax. It is   
   counterintuitive, but a flat rate income tax with low rates and a broad   
   base may be more progressive than a graduated income tax with a high tax   
   rate and a narrow tax base. Those who advocate a soak-the-rich strategy   
   will likely reject this argument, but the facts speak for themselves.   
      
   The left is at it again in Colorado with a new ballot measure to increase   
   state income taxes. This year, they will place on the ballot a measure to   
   replace Colorado’s flat rate income tax with a graduated income tax with a   
   top rate of 9.5%. Colorado’s flat rate income tax is protected by the   
   Constitution; the Taxpayer Bill of Rights Amendment (TABOR) requires   
   citizen approval for any new tax or increase in tax rates. Since TABOR was   
   enacted in 1992, the left has placed a number of measures on the ballot   
   calling for increased income tax rates and/or replacement of the flat rate   
   income tax with a graduated income tax.   
      
   Citizens in Colorado have rejected all of these ballot measures and are   
   likely to reject the most recent ballot measure proposing a graduated   
   income tax.  A graduated income tax with a top rate of 9.5% would leave   
   Colorado with one of the highest income tax rates in the nation. Citizens   
   can observe the impact of high-income tax rates in states such as   
   California. Citizens and businesses are leaving these high-income tax   
   rates for low-income tax states such as Colorado and states with no income   
   tax, such as Texas. Since Colorado adopted a flat rate income tax, it has   
   experienced one of the highest rates of economic growth in the country,   
   while high-income tax states such as California have experienced   
   retardation in economic growth.   
      
   The two pillars of prosperity in Colorado are the TABOR Amendment and the   
   flat rate income tax. Constitutional fiscal rules protect Colorado   
   citizens from unconstrained growth in government at all levels. Over the   
   past two decades, Colorado has shifted from a red state to a blue state.   
   The fact that citizens continue to support both TABOR and the flat rate   
   income tax reveals that these are bipartisan issues.   
      
   Charlie Kirk alerted us to the challenges of younger generations facing a   
   mountain of public as well as private debt. The solution is not to soak   
   the rich with high income tax rates; the best hope for all citizens,   
   including younger generations, is fiscal rules incorporated in the   
   constitution, including a low flat rate income tax, or no income tax. That   
   is the best way to ensure that prudent fiscal policies are pursued in the   
   long term.   
      
      
   --   
   November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump.  We look   
   forward to America being great again.   
      
   We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that   
   stupid people won't be offended.   
      
   Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.   
      
   Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama   
   / Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.   
      
   Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the   
   The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood   
   queer liberal democrat donors.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)