Friednash: Polis’ anti-income tax position isn’t as outlandish as it sounds

Imagine if Colorado had no state income tax.

Last week at a conservative political conference, Gov. Jared Polis floated the idea of reimagining Colorado’s state tax structure to eliminate income taxes, as nine other states have done.

Polis opined that Colorado’s income tax, “should be zero. We can find another way to generate the revenue that doesn’t discourage productivity and growth and you absolutely can, and we should.” Polis told the conference that he would want the change to be revenue-neutral and that he wouldn’t want to increase sales or property taxes to get it done.

Polis was speaking hypothetically and he made it clear that it wasn’t all or nothing. Indeed, the Colorado legislature would never make this change right now.