The Home Front: Tax plan could add $1.4 trillion to deficit. Colorado’s Gardner and Buck ‘like what they’re seeing so far’

“Colorado Congressmen Ken Buck and Cory Gardner want to see the final version of the Republican tax plan, but they both like what they’re seeing so far, despite a Congressional Budget Office report that the plan would add $1.4 trillion to the deficit,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “The plan, which could be voted on this week, would reduce income tax rates for most individuals, repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and lower the top corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent. The bill would take effect Jan. 1 and would expire Dec. 31, 2025. President Donald Trump met with lawmakers Monday, according to the New York Times, and will meet again today with lawmakers, including Sen. Gardner, R-Colo., whose office issued a statement Monday to The Tribune on the tax plan.”

“The owner of an idled coal mine near Paonia says current financial market conditions have scuttled a deal under which it was to have been purchased by investors including coal giant Murray Energy Corp,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “Kentucky-based Bowie Resource Partners — owner of the North Fork Valley’s Bowie No. 2 Mine, which it idled last year — had announced Oct. 31 that the newly formed company Canyon Consolidated Resources, LLC, was to buy out the majority ownership in Bowie from Galena Private Equity Resources Fund. A group of investors led by John Siegel, who has an ownership in Bowie and sits on its board, and Murray, the largest underground coal mining company in the country, formed Canyon Consolidated Resources. With the acquisition of Bowie, which was expected to have closed by Nov. 15, entities owned or controlled by Siegel and Murray Energy each were to own about 30.5 percent of CCR.”

“The plants in Loveland are confused. Normally, late November carries a bite in the air,” reports The Loveland Reporter-Herald. “The trees have shed their leaves and some plants have been reduced to their roots. But not this year. Monday’s high of 73 degrees was normally what northern Colorado would see in late September, and it continued a run of warm, dry days. Milliken resident Jacquelyn Cozad’s took to the Reporter-Herald’s Facebook page on Monday to report that her mums and irises are confused by the abnormally warm weather. And they’ve started to bud. Her pampas grass is still green.”

“It will be safer and easier to travel in north Routt County when the snow flies if the county’s 2018 budget proposal gets approved this month as presented,” reports The Steamboat Pilot. “The $60 million spending plan heading to the county commissioners includes an additional equipment operator that would provide extra snowplowing coverage in the northern part of the county.”

“A toddler died Monday after she was found unresponsive in the Big Thompson River,” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins. “Larimer County Sheriff’s Office deputies began investigating Monday after the child’s mother called police about 9:30 a.m. to report that the 23-month-old girl was missing from a residence in unincorporated Larimer County near Drake, according to a news release. The mother reported that she had last seen the toddler about 30 minutes prior when they were sleeping, but when she awoke she found the door to the home ajar and the child missing, according to LCSO.”

“Longmont’s city staff is to present the City Council with an overview of updates being considered for the city’s Land Development Code during a study session before the council convenes its regular meeting Tuesday night,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “That pre-session review is to include a look at proposals for new zoning districts and the land uses and development that would be permitted in each of those districts. There will also be a discussion of how the Land Development Code updates tie into implementing of the Envision Longmont Multimodal and Comprehensive Plan the City Council adopted last year, according to City Planner Brien Schumacher.”

“The state Office of Suicide Prevention has identified La Plata and Montezuma counties as priority areas for comprehensive prevention efforts,” reports The Cortez Journal. “The counties will be part of a collaborative effort between Colorado and national organizations to create a blueprint for preventing suicide here and in other states, said Sarah Brummett, director of the Office of Suicide Prevention.”

“Five years after Amendment 64 was passed by Colorado voters, counties and municipalities across the state continue to create and refine legislation surrounding marijuana legalization,” reports The Cañon City Daily Record. “The Fremont County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday heard the first reading of an ordinance that would regulate the cultivation of marijuana on residential properties, in residential structures, in accessory structures on residential properties, on vacant or unoccupied land and on non-residential property, and require registration of caregivers.”

“Boulder may in the near future make use of drones to advance various municipal interests, ranging from search-and-rescue efforts to 3-D modeling to inform infrastructure design,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “But officials are first collecting public input before moving ahead with the program. A survey is posted on the city’s site now, soliciting feedback on 22 different potential ways for Boulder to use unmanned aircraft systems. There is some, though not too much, precedent for local governments using drones. In Austin, Texas, fire crews use them to sniff out hot spots. In Dallas, they’re used to inspect water utilities. In Mesa County in Colorado, they’re tools for public safety.”

“A massive influx of computer science majors in Colorado and across the country is overwhelming college and university classrooms as students opt to gain the skills required to fill nearly 500,000 open jobs in cybersecurity, data science and machine learning,” reports The Denver Post. “Freshman James Schreiner said nearly all of his computer science classes at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden are full and his fellow students are brimming with optimism about what tasks and projects they will take on after graduation. “Computer science is so variable, and you can do almost anything with it,” said Schreiner, who could earn up to $90,000 as a software developer in the first year after graduation, according to industry estimates. ‘Of course, I am part of a generation born in an age of technology and it’s so easy for us to connect with new ideas.'”

“Modifying Colorado Springs’ annexation agreement for the Banning Lewis Ranch property might generate $49 million in net revenue for the city while adding billions to its economy, according to a study from an economic consulting firm,” reports The Gazette in Colorado Springs. “City staff and two members of TischlerBise Inc., a national firm, told the City Council on Monday afternoon that changing the agreement for the mostly dormant property on the city’s northeast side could allow for the development of tens of thousands of new homes and create even more jobs. With some exceptions, the property has remained undeveloped since 1988 when the property was annexed into the city, said Bob Cope, city economic development manager. The annexation agreement itself has acted as a deterrent to development, he said, which is leapfrogging the area.”

“Dan Baer, the former U.S. ambassador who launched a brief congressional campaign in Colorado’s 7th District earlier this year, on Monday said recent reports that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appears to be gutting the State Department and has been skipping diplomatic security briefings means it’s time for the one-time oil executive to call it quits,” reports ColoradoPolitics. “’We seem to have ventured from general incompetence … into a stage of negligence,” Baer told the hosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “Not only do we see talent that is really important to national security fleeing the State Department in droves or being pushed out, but now we hear these latest reports of Secretary Tillerson failing to get security briefings. That puts diplomats at risk.'”

“Congratulations, Denver! Gentrification has made the big time: the dictionary,” reports Denverite. “The tone-deaf marketing decision of Ink! Coffee to tout its gentrifier status on a sandwich board in front of its Five Points location and the subsequent protests and media coverage caused searches for “gentrification” and “gentrify” to surge. Merriam-Webster noted the rise in search traffic for these words that are on the lips of so many people in Denver on its ever-relevant Twitter account.”

The Colorado Independent is a statewide online news source operating in a time when spin is plentiful, but factual, fair and unflinching news in the public interest is all too rare. Our award-winning team of veteran investigative and explanatory reporters and news columnists aims to amplify the voices of Coloradans whose stories are unheard, shine light on the relationships between people, power and policy, and hold public officials to account. We strive to report the news with context, social conscience, and soul, and to give Coloradans the insight they need to promote conversation, understanding and progress in this square, swing state we call home.

3 COMMENTS

  1. I keep reading that this bill will balloon the deficit by $1.4 Trillion over 10 years. On broadcast and cable news, the talking heads use “deficit” and “debt” interchangeably. I don’t think they know the difference.

    But the deficit we run is a yearly shortfall, For 2017 it is projected to be about $666 Billion, down from $1.4 Trillion in 2009, but up from the $585 Billion in 2016.

    These numbers, like the unpaid new purchases on a credit card, add to the unpaid balance each year, the unpaid balance being our national debt.

    Having this number clarified would give us a much better idea of what this budget adds to the national debt over ten years.

    If it will add an average of $1.4 Trillion per year PLUS the current $.666 Trillion, that will balloon our national debt by an additional $20 Trillion over 10 years.

    That figure might get people’s attention. Especially the people who think that Obama increased the deficit when the opposite is true.

  2. This republican plan shows us two things in specific. One, that republicans are NOT thinking people. They know NOTHING about economics, at the very least. The economy is doing alright, now, it does NOT NEED this. Business is NOT dying from over taxation, if anything, they are playing way too LITTLE. They aren’t even covering the cost to society that having them here entails. Doing a huge tax give away to the rich and big business at this time makes NO sense other than they have the numbers in congress and the white house to pull it off. It’s NOT a good idea right now.

    Two, it shows us what HYPOCRITES they are. They have, every time a democrat is in office, screamed at the top of their lungs about how we HAVE to cut the deficit and pay off the debt. The INSTANT they are in office, it’s just NOT important, it’s time to CRASH THE ECONOMY by NOT being responsible at all. These people are going to MUSHROOM the debt, and they are just fine with it. All because THEY are in charge, and they think this will make them popular. They never fail to grab the WRONG part of something and latch on like a starving baby.

    This “plan” is nothing more than THEFT from current and future generations of Americans. It’s not going to benefit ANYONE but those already at the top, and THEY DON’T NEED ANY MORE “HELP”. IF they were EVER going to produce jobs with what the republicans have handed them, they would have done so over 40 YEARS ago. THEY WON’T DO IT THIS TIME EITHER! This is a 100% fool proof drag out drop dead LIE and ANYONE who falls for it STILL is a complete MORON who deserves the fleecing they are about to get.

    Gardner and Buck need to be held accountable for this. It’s NONSENSE, it’s DESTRUCTIVE, it’s NOT going to be good for this country any more than Reagan’s THEFT of TRILLIONS was. May I remind everyone potentially reading that when he came into office, Reagan sat on an ALMOST $1 trillion debt. When he left, it was over $5 Trillion. When W came in, we had a balanced budget. He did a tax give away rather than pay off anything. When he left office, the debt was $11 trillion.

    And now they want to do it AGAIN! Good God, America, how many times are you going to fall for the SAME LIES?

    WAKE. THE. HELL. UP! They are STEALING YOUR FUTURE AGAIN!

  3. I’m amazed at how many on the “right” are having trouble doing the math.

    If this travesty passes, the Republicans own the debt. Forever.

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