Gov. John Hickenlooper signed his first seven bills into law today and said he was not yet on board with Sen. Rollie Heath’s tax increase ballot initiative.
Hickenlooper said that while he had not made any promises on the campaign trail, he said he had been pretty clear that he had no plans to support a tax increase.
“…it’s hard for me to imagine supporting a tax increase until we’ve gotten our arms around the complexity of the budget,” Hickenlooper told reporters after he signed his first piece of legislation.
Heath announced a plan to sponsor a citizen’s initiative Monday that would reverse tax rate cuts for sales and use taxes as well as income tax. The initiative, which could be placed on the November ballot, would increase the state sales tax to 3 percent and corporate and individual income tax to 5 percent.
While he distanced himself from the Heath initiative, he embraced the opportunity to sign bills that extended homeowner protections against foreclosure, extend tax check offs to help families of National Guard servicemen ordered to active duty and new rules for members of the Regional Tourism board.
Surrounded by Democratic and Republican sponsors of the bills his pen was about to bring into law, Hickenlooper tied his tie and sat down to work.
“These bills are the first seven that came out of the General Assembly. There is no political message,” Hickenlooper said, but he said he is very excited to be signing his first act.
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