RSS
Home
Amendment 58
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
There Will Be Deceptive Advertising
Amendment 58, also known as the "Scholarship Initiative," would increase the severance tax on oil and gas interests in Colorado by $321.4 million annually as well as eliminate a property tax credit against the severance. Sixty percent of the new revenue would go to a college scholarship fund, thirty percent goes to environmental and wildlife impacts, and ten percent goes to clean energy projects.
A Smarter Colorado is leading the campaign for Amendment 58, along with Governor Bill Ritter. Their chief argument is that even if 58 passes, oil and gas companies in Colorado will still pay lower taxes than their counterparts in New Mexico and Wyoming. And since Colorado ranks 47th among states in higher education funding, this amendment pours money into a system that desperately needs it without raising taxes on citizens.
Of course, opponents of Amendment 58, led by the National Taxpayers Union, say that the measure would do exactly that, since the oil and gas companies would pass their tax increase on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
The most misleading part of this blackmail is the way the industry (Exxon Mobil, BP, Conoco and Chevron have spent $1 million each on the campaign) threatens to pass on the burden "at the pump." The truth is that Amendment 58 would have absolutely no effect on the price of gasoline that people put in their cars, and very little effect on the price of natural gas used in home heating.
There is a brand new poll put out by the Rocky Mountain News and CBS4 showing Amendment 58 passing by a 49-45 margin.
