Colorado bellwether: Voters reject statewide tax increases

Michelle Malkin.com ^ | November 1, 2011 | Michelle Malkin

[Qbert]

Proposition 103, the only statewide tax increase on the November ballot across the country, is going down tonight, according to number-crunchers in my home state of Colorado. If the results of this massive tax hike referendum had gone the big government/big labor lobby’s way, it would be front-page news tomorrow and Debbie Blabberman-Schultz would be crowing about it non-stop on MSNBC. Instead, crickets will chirp. White House, pay attention:

Colorado voters have rejected an attempt to raise state income and sales taxes to fund education, The Denver Post has declared. Colorado voters were saying no to a major tax increase proposal Tuesday night, as early returns appeared to show Proposition 103 failing across the state.

With 38 percent of precincts reporting, Proposition 103 looked to be headed to defeat, with 36.9 percent in favor to 63 percent against. That was also true in Denver. With 68,471 ballots that had been counted through 7 p.m., the measure was failing 43.7 percent to 56.3 percent.

Even in liberal Boulder County — home to the measure’s chief supporter — the measure was failing, though by a narrow 93 votes. Our Democrat governor here in Colorado, John Hickenlooper, refused to endorse the $3 billion measure. Voters were mercifully unswayed by the progressive human shield strategy of adorning the job-killing tax hikes with shiny apple images and elementary school kids. Analyst Ben DeGrow noted that contrary to hysterical ed lobby propaganda, total annual expenditures on K-12, adjusted for inflation, from 1999 to 2010 have actually “increased by $3.2 billion or 46 percent. Per pupil spending is up 24 percent.”

Fiscal sanity and the facts trumped teachers’ union demagoguery. Taxpayers in this battleground are not in the mood for more tax-and-spend sinkholes.

Hope for change? Yes, we can!

[MileHi]

6” of snow and a body slam to the tax-and-spenders. What a nice morning!