Gov. Jared Polis is pitching increased savings for Coloradans more\u00a0than any other campaign pledge, by far, as he seeks a second term as governor.<\/p>\n
Citizens may have picked that up in one of the dozens of references to cost-savings in his State of the State speech earlier this month. Or on his social media, or when he spoke on the Capitol steps ahead of the 2022 legislative session\u00a0and promised to work on “making the state more affordable for everyone,” or in virtually any other recent public remarks not specifically devoted to the COVID-19 pandemic or the Marshall fire.<\/p>\n
But, as Polis himself acknowledges, there are limits to how much money state government can really save people. This state’s government, unlike Congress, cannot deficit-spend, meaning that each year’s budget must be balanced against actual revenues.<\/p>\n
On top of that, there’s the fact that\u00a0Polis and his fellow Democrats who control the legislature and write the budget have some potentially significant disagreements over how to save people money this year, using what levers Colorado has.<\/p>\n
That all means Coloradans should temper their expectations against reality.<\/p>\n
Take, for example, the governor’s fee relief package, which he’s touted early and often in 2022. Included in that package is the delayed implementation of a scheduled 2-cents-per-gallon fee at gas pumps; waiving of professional licensing fees for nurses and other health care workers; waiving of the fee the state typically imposes on people incorporating new businesses; and lowering or freezing fees at the Department of Motor Vehicles.<\/p>\n
“We must double down on our promise to help every business and family succeed,” Polis said in his State of the State speech. “That means taking less of your hard-earned money in fees and taxes, and putting more in your pockets and paychecks.”<\/p>\n
But the fee relief package totals just above $100 million. Were the benefits distributed evenly among Coloradans, each person would be getting $17. Polis is devoting much airspace to line items that promise small amounts of money in most people’s pockets. The driver’s license fee freeze will save people $1.54 and the vehicle registration fee cut will save people about $11, according to the governor’s proposal. People starting new businesses will get $49 in relief. The most substantial savings go to a subset of folks — health care workers — who will each keep up to $162.<\/p>\n
Said state Sen. Dominick Moreno, vice chair of the powerful Joint Budget Committee, “I do think it’s a response to the reality that a lot of people right now are concerned about how much costs are increasing. They’re concerned about inflation, that less and less of their paycheck\u00a0is take-home pay … It’s an effort to respond to that.”<\/p>\n
But, the Commerce City Democrat added, “The reality is that many of the proposals are relatively small-scale in the grand scheme of things. The car registration fees, it really works out to be saving people maybe a dollar a month. It’s not very targeted and in my view it doesn’t qualify as all that meaningful.”<\/p>\n
To the extent that Coloradans will see significant economic relief from the government this year, most has little or nothing to do with Polis. The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) requires the government to refund citizens in strong fiscal years like this one, which means Coloradans are set to receive several hundred dollars on average this year — or more, if they have a high salary. TABOR rules also trigger a temporary income tax cut this year, which will deliver the average person more money than they’ll get from the entire fee relief package.<\/p>\n
In an interview with The Post, Polis said that even though he highlights coming tax and fee cuts so regularly, he understands they are just a small part of the picture. He points to much more sweeping efforts his administration has made that will save participating citizens thousands each — universal kindergarten and pre-K, plus recently bolstered tax credits for working families, chief among them.<\/p>\n
Saving people money, he said, “is not something new to us.”<\/p>\n
In November alone, an estimated $261 million flowed into Colorado from the federal expanded child tax credit, which gave hundreds of thousands of Colorado households more than $400 a month on average. That program is dead for now, as Democrats in Congress have failed to pass President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda. And it’s that kind of money that Polis knows makes a much bigger dent that anything coming out of his office or the legislature.<\/p>\n
“I’m deeply concerned,” he said about the child tax credit. “A low-income family this (past) year, with kids, likely got around $7,200. … The state (credit) is just $1,200 and only goes up to age 6. And that was expensive for the state.<\/p>\n
“We never have the ability to do what the federal government is doing.”<\/p>\n
Added Alec Garnett, a Denver Democrat and speaker of the Colorado House, “We understand how hard these last couple of years have been on Coloradans. We’re trying to do the best we can to let folks know we’re working not to solve every problem that they have, … but to show people we’re on their side. Even if it’s a little bit, at least it’s something.”<\/p>\n
Given that Colorado has such little relative budget flexibility, the people who control the Joint Budget Committee — Democrats have a majority there, as they do throughout the Capitol — feel it’s important that the state consider reforms to provide more money to those who need it, in a more precise way than, say, across-the-board refunds. TABOR doesn’t leave much wiggle room, but it does allow the legislature to decide to a large extent how — though not if<\/em> — refunds go out in years like these.<\/p>\n “Look, $100 million is $100 million,” said state Sen. Chris Hansen, a budget writer and Denver Democrat. “What I’d say is that the proposal kicks off a conversation with the legislature about fee relief more broadly, and we are looking at additional options that would likely go further than the initial proposal.<\/p>\n “It’s a pretty long list. I appreciate the governor highlighting this issue and we’ve got other additional, targeted proposals that we think can make a material difference, particularly to the people who need it most.”<\/p>\n That may be where Polis splits from his fellow Democrats at the Capitol. He’s been a proponent of across-the-board measures, like cutting or even eliminating the state income tax, and he’s been a cheerleader for TABOR refunds, which every income tax filer receives. Progressives like Hansen and Moreno would, generally speaking, like to see more of the savings going to the neediest interests.<\/p>\n Polis hasn’t said much about whether he’ll fight Democrats if and when they try to change the refund scheme.<\/p>\n “If that’s what they want to talk about we’re always open to that,” he said. “It’s not part of our legislative agenda this session.”<\/p>\n It’s a big conversation, whether or not Polis wants to have it now; in each of the coming three fiscal years, Colorado is projected to have more than $2 billion to refund — massive sums in the context of a state budget that’s lately hovered around $35 billion, and that this year should reach a record $40 billion.<\/p>\n This is very much on the minds of lawmakers who, ironically, could use fee relief in their fight to reform refund mechanisms. That’s because when the state takes in fewer fees, it collects less revenue, and there is less overall money left over to be used for refunds.<\/p>\n As state Sen. Bob Rankin, a budget writer and Carbondale Republican, said, “Where does fee relief come from? … You get less TABOR refund by paying a little bit less for fees. It’s just a shell game.”<\/p>\n Rankin and other Republicans have taken note of how much Polis has talked about tax and fee cuts lately. Rankin’s majority leader, Douglas County Republican state Sen. Chris Holbert, told reporters recently that Polis must be seeing the same polls he’s seeing.<\/p>\n That would make sense, said the Democratic Colorado pollster Andrew Baumann.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest danger for any political party that’s in power is to be seen by voters as focusing on the things that aren\u2019t important,”\u00a0he said. “Right now they think cost of living is really important. I think it makes all the sense in the world for Democrats to be really single-mindedly focused on that, knowing that they have a lot of popular accomplishments from last year\u2019s session they can turn back to in the fall.\u201d<\/p>\n