Every day we see that TV ad claiming that Amendment 66, the proposed income-tax increase for schools, will cost an average Colorado family only $133.
Just do the math! According to the US Census Bureau, in 2011 there were 2,224,603 households in Colorado. You can increase that number somewhat for an estimated 2013 figure. To make the math easy, let’s try 2,500,000. $1 billion divided by 2,500,000 households yields $400 per household. That’s nearly three times more than the ad’s measly $133.
Of course, not all households actually pay Colorado income tax. Thus, the per-household figure must be considerably larger than $400. It certainly isn’t $133.
I wonder that our news media haven’t been motivated to question this oft-repeated $133 mis-statement. And I lament that legislators, so quick to pile regulations on jobs-creating businesses, see no need for a “truth-in-advertising” requirement on political ads.
Voters deserve to know that Amendment 66 invokes a staggering yearly $1 billion tax increase, with pain in the pocketbook for countless Colorado families.
The post Amendment 66 fails basic arithmetic appeared first on Centennial Institute.