By David Sirota, includes “Are taxpayers and retirees willing to give billions of dollars to financial firms in exchange for the potentially false perception of financial stability? ”
By Justin Wingerter, includes “For Colorado’s local governments, the money represents an opportunity they have never had and may not get again soon. It’s a chance to fill holes in budgets and bridges, to address decades-long addictions and afflictions, to build up and better their towns.”
By Conrad Swanson, includes “In the COVID-19 pandemic, the very definition of a public health crisis, Denver spent less than 5% of federal stimulus money on public health itself. …”
Some fifty years ago Sen. Paul Douglas of Illinois, who had been an economics professor in his pre-congressional life, stood up in the Senate chamber to announce that he had devoted the entire month of December to perusing the federal budget.
The 2020 Financial State of the States report surveys the fiscal health of the 50 states prior to the coronavirus pandemic. This data is released today by Truth in Accounting (TIA), a think tank that analyzes government financial reporting.
Colorado and South Carolina have pulled back from making additional payments to their underfunded pensions, moves that may play out in other states that are struggling to balance budgets as the coronavirus ravages tax revenue.
As many states enter new fiscal years amid the coronavirus pandemic, budgets already crushed by the crisis could see services slashed without additional federal support, according to recent reports.
How large could the shortfall in state government general revenues be, amidst the coronavirus and related crises?
The financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic is so severe that an injection this past week of more than $1 billion of federal funds into Colorado’s economy to battle the disease may prove to be little more than a Band-Aid for hard-hit cities and counties facing a sudden fiscal crisis.
In 378 U.S. counties, voter registration rates exceed 100% of the adult population, meaning there are more voter registrations on file than the total voting-age population
TABOR does not hamper the ability of local governments by requiring voter support for new taxes and extensions of old ones. Quite the opposite, in fact… One reason attempts to mess with TABOR like Prop CC keep flopping is that TABOR isn’t just about taxes. It is also about control and power sharing. TABOR gives ordinary citizens a role in the exercise of one of government’s core powers — the power of the purse.
Colorado’s finances rank 27th in the nation, and the state earns a ‘D’ for its financial condition, according to Truth in Accounting’s 2019 State of the States report.
A U.S. appeals court in Denver said Electoral College members can vote for the presidential candidate of their choice and aren't bound by the popular vote in their states.
The fund lost 3.5% on its investments in 2018, largely fueled by a year-end drop in stocks.
I focus on the existence, stability, and characteristics of SS. Contrary to the implication of the “80 percent standard,” there is a continuum of stable steady states, with lower funding standards corresponding to higher contribution rates.
When Karen Magnuson appeared before a Colorado senate panel in March, the 62-year-old retired teacher made a desperate plea: Avoid cutting her pension’s cost-of-living increase, or she and thousands of her fellow retirees throughout Colorado could be thrown into destitution.
Are taxpayers and retirees willing to give billions of dollars to financial firms in exchange for the potentially false perception of financial stability?
Colorado’s fiscal health is 31st in the U.S., according to Truth in Accounting (TIA), after receiving a D grade from the Chicago-based government fiscal watchdog.
At a time when most government agencies are only vaguely aware of the technology, Colorado could become an early adopter.
Here's why Colorado's Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR, won't stymie governments' mismangement of taxpayer dollars.