Colorado Can't Cut Our Way Out of Budget Crisis

The cuts outlined by the Governor's budget office in today's Joint Budget Committee meeting include: eliminating 270 state jobs; $115 million cut in the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (including a 1.5 percent provider rate cut); $18 million cut in the Department of Corrections; eliminating a 39-bed nursing facility in Grand Junction and 57 jobs; eliminating 59 beds in the children, adolescent, and geriatric units at the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Fort Logan and 48 jobs; $80 million cut in higher education to be backfilled by stimulus dollars contingent on federal approval; as well as additional cuts in agriculture, health care, human services, local affairs, military and veterans affairs, natural resources, personnel, public health and environment, public safety, and elsewhere.

After decades of eroding state investments in critical areas like education, health care, higher education, and transportation, Colorado is in a perpetual fiscal crisis. We can’t afford to simply cut our way out of it. No more cuts for Colorado.

Cuts mean tradeoffs. And those tradeoffs mean there are seniors, children, and families who won’t get the care and service they need; students who won’t be able to go to college; and Colorado families who will get left behind.

We applaud the steps the Governor and the Legislature took last session to avoid balancing the budget on the backs of Colorado families. They’ve continued that effort with these proposed cuts. However, without considering revenue options, the tradeoffs asked of some of Colorado’s most vulnerable populations are too costly, while there have been no sacrifices asked of Colorado’s wealthiest corporations and individuals. So we’re calling on the Governor and the Legislature to return to the statehouse for a special session to take immediate action to address the state’s revenue crisis.

We think all options should be on the table, and that a balanced revenue solution should be part of the equation. Lawmakers should explore revenue options that spread the sacrifice to corporate citizens and not just Colorado families, including: changing the net operating loss period, limiting salary deductions for corporations and pass-through entities, stronger tax enforcement, redirecting federal dollars, requiring withholding for out-of-state partners and shareholders, and other options.

This is not a problem that we can simply cut our way out of, nor can we rely on temporary measures, because this is a systemic problem. Colorado faces a perpetual budget crisis because we do not have a revenue system that can sustain the public services that Coloradans rely on every day. Until lawmakers address the state’s tax system in a comprehensive way, and work to modernize its broken revenue system, Colorado will continue to face these budget problems. A strong 21st Century economy demands a modern tax system that is adequate, equitable, and sustainable.