Colorado Governor Jared Polis’ carbon tax, which he has proposed as an alternative revenue source to replace the state income tax, would raise the price of gasoline by an incredible $42 per gallon.
By Fred Lucas
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, has gained national acclaim from some center-right pundits for proposing the elimination of his state’s income tax.
However, the Colorado Constitution requires a balanced budget, and the governor has proposed only an undefined carbon or pollution tax to fill the $12 billion revenue hole, which could lead to paying more than $40 per gallon at the pump, according to an analysis from the Denver-based Independence Institute.
The governor has never called for reducing the scope of government in the state, Ben Murrey, director of the Fiscal Policy Center at the Independence Institute and author of the paper, told The Daily Signal.
“We celebrate doing away with the income tax. But the governor doesn’t have a way to replace the revenue,” Murrey said.
Polis first floated the idea last year that the state’s income tax “should be zero.” That would put Colorado in line with nine other states that impose no income tax.
“When you tax something you penalize it,” Polis said, adding: “We can find another way to generate the revenue that doesn’t discourage productivity and growth and you absolutely can, and we should.”
Asked this month in an interview with Colorado Public Radio how he would replace the revenue, Polis responded: “I’m not talking about making government smaller or making government bigger. I’m just talking about how we can get the revenue we need to function, support our schools, support our prisons, support law enforcement.”
In the same interview, Polis said:
I would look at replacing income tax, I consider [income] positive, we shouldn’t penalize it, with taxing something that’s negative, like pollution, emissions and carbon. So if we can move to revenue neutral, not making the government bigger, not making government smaller, just funding what we need in a way that supports the growth of business, supports individuals earning income, and instead penalizes things that we all agree are negative like pollution and carbon emissions.
Polis’s press office did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.
Polis previously said: “Here in Colorado, we have decreased the income tax twice—what do you replace that revenue with? I’m open to a wide variety of ideas, but generally they fall in three main categories. One is some kind of pollution or carbon tax, which has the added benefit of helping to save the planet—what a great idea.”
For a carbon tax to replace the income tax revenue would ask a lot from consumers, according to the Independence Institute.
“For the sake of analysis—and for lack of a more detailed carbon tax plan from Polis—considering a carbon tax on gasoline provides a useful picture of the effect Polis’s plan might have on Colorado’s economy … the state would need to impose a $42.33 per gallon carbon tax on gasoline to make Polis’s income tax elimination proposal revenue neutral to the state,” Independence Institute’s analysis says.
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Read the rest at The Daily Signal.
Fred Lucas is chief news correspondent and manager of the Investigative Reporting Project for The Daily Signal. Lucas is also the author of “Abuse of Power: Inside The Three-Year Campaign to Impeach Donald Trump.”
Originally published by The Daily Signal. Republished with permission.
To read more on carbon tax proposals, click here.
To read more on Colorado legislation, click here.