Public Finance

Amendment 64 sales tax proposal at 10 percent, but Smart Colorado wants it higher

Update: Yesterday, we shared a draft proposal that would repeal Amendment 64, which allows adults 21 and over in Colorado to use and possess small amounts of marijuana, if voters don't approve a 15 percent sales tax during a November election. Also included was an opinion by attorney Ed Ramey that s ... More >>

Marijuana taxes: If they're too high, they'll empower black market, says task force member

In coverage of last week's final Amendment 64 task force meeting, our Charles Trowbridge noted that in addition to a recommendation about a 15 percent excise tax at the wholesale level, an idea about a 25 percent point-of-sale tax was also floated. Task force member Christian Sederberg stresses that ... More >>

Marijuana: Amendment 64's opponents want new ad pulled, backers respond

This week, the folks behind Amendment 64, the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act, have been ballyhooing a new ad featuring the endorsement of singer Melissa Etheridge. But act opponents are focused more on another commercial -- a spot highlighting revenues for school construction. They say the spot ... More >>

If Mitt Romney won't tell you about these tax loopholes, we will

Gazette's Wayne Laugesen on why he thinks Planned Parenthood covers up statutory rape

Update: This weekend, Colorado Springs Gazette editorial page editor Wayne Laugesen published a scathing piece in which he argued that Planned Parenthood was likely worse than Penn State when it came to covering up sexual assaults on children; our previous coverage is below. Laugesen explains the ti ... More >>

Marijuana: Amendment 64 study authors defend higher revenues than state predicted

Update:A Colorado Center on Law and Policy study predicting the economic impact of Amendment 64, the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act, has become a political football for proponents and opponents. Now, CCLP reps are defending the methodology of the report, whose totals differ from those of state ... More >>

Five acts with more taxing problems than you

See Also: • Tax Evasion: How to live like a rock star -- and pay taxes like one, too. As the saying goes: There are only two things that are certain and unavoidable in this life -- death and taxes. And while both might be causing folks to lose sleep these days (you didn't forget tax time is upon ... More >>

New taxes on gas, electric cars?: CDOT says it's just talking about them right now

​Is the Colorado Department of Transportation looking at hiking taxes on gasoline and electric cars? That's the implication from an Independence Institute report, which quotes from CDOT e-mails. But spokeswoman Stacey Stegman says there's no proposal yet, and one is unlikely this year.

Abstinence-only funding was refused, but that didn't stop a state school-board member

Mike Rosen plagiarizes himself in Denver Post column? He says he did nothing wrong

Mike Rosen.​Update below: This week, a tipster informed yours truly (and Colorado Pols) that KOA talk show host Mike Rosen had basically copied a 2008 column he wrote for the Rocky Mountain News and republished it in December as a Denver Post piece. Rather than simply running side-by-side exce ... More >>

Cha-ching! Federal Reserve's Money Museum downtown expected to blow minds

The Money Museum got mad billz​If you think about it, the concept of money in general is pretty weird: Basically, we assign a value to a random object and, as a society, agree upon its representative worth -- there's nothing intrinsically valuable about a $20 bill, for example, but neither is ... More >>

David Zamzow, two others named in 25 racketeering counts: Read the indictment here

David Zamzow.​"If you are looking for a blend of personal service and expertise, you have come to the right place!. I offer a broad range of services for business owners, executives and independent professionals." So reads the welcome message on Fort Collins CPA David Zamzow's website. No men ... More >>

Scottie Ewing, swinger entrepreneur, pleads guilty to tax evasion for prostitution business

A former Denver Sugar girl.​The really wild ride of Scottie Ewing, former ski pro turned porn purveyor and swinging entrepreneur, took another turn yesterday, when he pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion in connection with the sale of the Denver Sugar/Denver Players prostitution business ... More >>

Amendments 60 & 61, Proposition 101: Is $6 million not enough to defeat them?

Douglas Bruce​Opponents of three tax-slashing ballot initiatives say their polling shows that the measures might actually be approved by voters -- despite a multi-million-dollar ad blitz starting this weekend designed to crush them. Coloradans for Responsible Reform recently spent $250,000 on ... More >>

John Hickenlooper and Dennis Gallagher proud of letting us know how feds have stimulated state

​In February 2009, Barack Obama showed up at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to sign the $787 billion federal stimulus package. Since then, anyone who has been stuck behind an army of trucks on I-25, delayed by spates of lane closures on I-70 or winced at the infestation of orange cons ... More >>

Why is Denver's tax money going to Dallas?

Tax day warning: U.S. Attorney will bust your ass if you file incomplete/inaccurate returns

A Flickr photoForty-eight hours is about all you've got left...​April 15 -- the deadline for filing income-tax returns -- is just two days away. And in case your stress over that fact isn't already overwhelming, the U.S. Attorney's Office has a message: "It is important to file complete and ac ... More >>

Throw the bums off the Colorado Supreme Court, says Clear the Bench Colorado -- and John Suthers seems to agree

ClearTheBenchColorado.org's Facebook profile picture gives you a pretty good idea where Matt Arnold's coming from.​It took the better part of a week, but Matt Arnold, the man behind ClearTheBenchColorado.org, has finally gotten the Denver Post to blink. On Tuesday, the paper published, "AG Su ... More >>

Wake-Up Call: No moratorium on dispensaries in Denver

​Think the lines at the airport are long? They're nothing compared to the lines at the Denver Treasurer's office, where would-be dispensary operators are lining up to get their sales-tax licenses before any city ordinance might put limits on dispensaries. But the dispensaries will definitely ... More >>

Attorney General John Suthers has to admit: Medical marijuana can be taxed

"When I said, 'Put that in your pipe and smoke it,' I didn't mean it like that!"​Attorney General John Suthers has been the high-ranking state official most likely to imply that the sky is falling in relation to medical marijuana. No wonder he cheered a Colorado Court of Appeals ruling in the ... More >>

Kenny Be's Worst-Case Scenario: Gov. Ritter's Colorado cash coupons

Every week it seems like another $300 million must be slashed from the state budget. Even if there is no money left to pay for the 2009 state income tax refunds next year, Governor Ritter should plan to send out one "Colorado Cash" coupon for every $100 worth of state income tax owed by the state. W ... More >>

Chrysalis Graduates Two More

A Pain in the Assets

Fire Sale

The cost of cigarettes could go up in smoke this November.

In Sickness and in Wealth

Medicaid patients could be facing death by a thousand cuts.

Off Limits

Dialing for dolours.

The Money Pit

Mildred Bennett's lost her home, but she's got a $35,000 consolation prize.

Home Sick

Is this crazy, or what? The only way Mildred Bennett can get her house back is to prove she's mentally disabled.

Someone to Lien On

No Taxation Without Misrepresentation

A state property-tax goofup means that a poor Colorado county has to pay back a huge oil company.

Pack Contributions

Tobacco lobbyists do a smokin' business with politicians.

Letters

Off Limits

Due Unto Others

Next month, Colorado voters will decide whether the state's $5 billion worth of tax-exempt properties are all charity cases.

This Property Is Condemned

The EPA messes with a widow over a Commerce City warehouse and winds up making its own mess.

Heaven is a suburb

The streets aren't paved with gold down in the brand-new city of Lone Tree --yet.

That Fits the Bill

Need some special-interest legislation? Here's how this year's session measures up

Alms for the Not-So-Poor

A "nonprofit" hospital gets its lucrative office buildings taken off the tax rolls.

THE BREAKS OF THE GAME

THE HISTORY OF A TAX LOOPHOLE--AND HOW IT GOT PLUGGED.

OFF LIMITS

LETTERS

A SWEET DEAL

NEED A TAX BREAK FOR THE NEW YEAR? CONSIDER RAISING BEES, DONKEYS, HAY OR, AS A LAST RESORT, A STINK WITH THE COUNTY ASSESSOR.TO BEE OR NOT TO BEE? FOR A SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPER SEEKING A TAX BREAK, THAT'S NO QUESTION. BUT TAXPAYERS GET STUNG.

BOWLEN FOR DOLLARS

DENVER'S FAVORITE CANADIAN MILLIONAIRE WANTS A STADIUM SUBSIDY. HERE'S WHAT HE WON'T TELL YOU ABOUT IT.BRONCO BULLY PAT BOWLEN PLAYS SMASH-MOUTH POLITICS IN HIS QUEST FOR A NEW STADIUM.

SHADOW OF A DOUBT

THE DEFECTION OF PHILIP ANSCHUTZ IS JUST THE LATEST RED FLAG IN THE PEPSI CENTER DEAL.

WIN SOME, LOSE SOME

GIVE ME A BREAK

RISKY BUSINESS

THE CITY LOANS $270,000 TO A BUSINESSMAN WHO PILED UP DELINQUENT DEBT.

IT'S 11 P.M. DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR FUNDING IS?

DENVER PLAYS THE SAFE CITY SHUFFLE.

UNECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

DID A SQUABBLE WITH COLORADO SPRINGS COST FORT COLLINS $300 MILLION?