Last week it was announced that Qwest will merge with CenturyTel a telecommunications company based in Monroe La. It was also announced that the Qwest corporate office in Denver will be shut down and the operations will be moved to Monroe.
In this last year Colorado has went from 11 fortune 500 companies to 7 when Qwest leaves. The question is, why? As a past small business owner here in Colorado I have a pretty good idea why businesses are bailing. It is because we have a governor and a senate who believe that businesses should carry the burden for the State’s tax and spend policies.
An excellent example of this is the personal property tax that the State lays on all businesses. This is a tax that businesses pay annually for all necessary equipment they need to run their business. If you own a convenience store and you purchased a cooler to keep your products cold, each year you pay a tax based on the value of that cooler. You pay this tax on your computer, your outdoor signs, your desk & chairs, your ovens, your software, etc. It doesn’t matter if you paid taxes when you purchased these necessary items, you still are taxed each year on the value of them. There is only one reason for this tax and that is the State and Counties of Colorado want this revenue.
I guess it is not enough that a small business collects sales taxes from the products they sell. It doesn’t matter that they employ people who pay income tax to the state and it sure doesn’t matter that they pay high unemployment and workman’s comp insurance premiums, it only matters that our local Colorado Government squeezes every penny they can from the people who try to make a living by owning and operating their own business.
Not only directly does our knucklehead Colorado government squeeze pennies from these hard working business owners but indirectly as well. Recently our left leaning congress and Governor passed a law taxing candy and soda. Why, because they want the revenue. Does it matter if some people quit purchasing these products because they cannot afford them? No, not to the State of Colorado it doesn’t.
Governor Ritter forced through a new tax that ups the amount you pay to register a vehicle each year in Colorado. People on fixed incomes will suffer and won’t be purchasing non-essential products or services. Who gets to take the hit? The business owner does. Ritter took away the property tax exemption from our senior citizens and guess who will feel the impact? You guessed it, Colorado businesses. Colorado businesses used to receive a small discount if they paid their sales tax on or before the due date. Thanks to Ritter, this is gone
There is a reason for Colorado’s high unemployment rate and we can thank Ritter and his cronies for this. They make the cost of doing business in Colorado so high that companies either close shop, cut staff or as in the case of Qwest, First Data, Frontier Airlines and MillerCoors, they just pack up and move to a more business friendly state.
The Qwest move alone is estimated to put well over 1000 people out of work and the trickledown effect will impact hundreds of other business. You add the cost of unemployment benefits, foreclosures and loss of tax revenue and the blow to the Colorado economy is staggering.
Colorado is quickly becoming another California. They have a Democrat controlled congress and Governor who dish out entitlements like candy, who tax any and everything they can and who have taken a robust and thriving high tech economy in Colorado and have made it so difficult and costly to do business here that these high tech, high paying companies are getting out as fast as they can.
The only thing that keeps me optimistic about Colorado is that I can see November out of my window. God willing, the citizens of Colorado will boot these idiots out of office and get someone (anyone) who will cut spending and reduce taxes. This is the only way businesses will stay and survive in Colorado.
