2026 Colorado Amendment 87

And of all of the issues on the statewide ballot, there is one I keep hearing described as the most consequential.

Since 1987, Colorado has had a flat income tax, but if Amendment 87 passes, that could change, creating a progressive income tax where the more you make, the higher your tax rate for individuals and businesses.

Chris, please start us off.

Yeah, the graduated income tax would go from 3.7% to 8.4%.

That will qualify for a higher tax as well.

Mm-hmm.

And this week Governor Polis weighed in on where he thought about Amendment 87, and your team kind of called out some of the things that he said.

Yeah, I, I think both the proponents and the opponents of 87 have done a good job of explaining why they think that a progressive income tax would benefit Colorado or why it would be ultimately harmful.

They had some, uh, complaints along the way, but The Denver Post actually got there, ladies and gentlemen.

In their editorial yesterday on Amendment 87, the graduated income tax.

The headline, "Amendment 87's Graduated Income Tax Could Cause Big Employers to Leave." Ain't that the truth? Their big subhead, "We know that the flat income tax in Colorado leaves the state's middle class holding a heavier tax burden than their wealthiest counterparts," which is absolutely BS, by the way, "for whom 4.4% is no burden at all." No, you get it wrong.

That's the complaint.

That's where they're like, "Well, we know that we don't really like the flat tax, that everybody gets the same percentage whether you're rich or not." But that's actual fairness, where you are literally given the same percentage that you have to pay on your inc- for your income tax.

Most people will be the sa- stay the same or maybe even see a little bit of a reduction.

But the wealthy people, those rich guys, they're gonna end up having to pay substantially more." But this is where The Denver Post gets it right.

And they point to JJ Ament, president of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, and Governor Jared Polis, noting both of them told The Post that, quote, "Major employers are threatening to leave if Amendment 87 passes.

Like, y'all can suck my...

Okay, Amendment 87 is really long.

But I had a question after I read this, and I said, "Does Colorado use the same 4.4% state income tax rate?" For me and Target, 'cause girl, Amendment 87 is trying to change that shit, because what do you mean we're getting taxed the same? Okay, so let's go back to this big-ass classroom with Swifties and hot girl summers.

Okay, so Colorado's classroom currently has a very simple rule.

Everybody pays 4.4%.

So corporations have a very different deduction, taxable income, calculations, federal rules, et cetera.

We're specifically talking about the Colorado income tax rate.

So, so Amendment 87 is saying, like, we are making tax brackets.

I didn't make them up.

So when your ballot shows up, you better read the fine print on Amendment 87.

And I want you to do a search for the word inflation.

Look for the word married.

Vote yes.

Next on the ballot, uh, not exactly next on the ballot, but the next yes vote on the ballot is Amendment 87, and here's an important Ian disclaimer.

I'm actually part of the campaign trying to pass this thing.

This is as no-brainer as there have been, though.

If you're making over 500K, the additional revenue over that, additional income over that gets taxed at a new rate.

No-brainer.

Vote yes on Amendment 87.

Yep.