Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning limits on government charges, and, in connection therewith, reducing vehicle ownership taxes over four years to nominal amounts; ending taxes on vehicle rentals and leases; phasing in over four years a $10,000 vehicle sale price tax exemption; setting total yearly registration, license, and title charges at $10 per vehicle; repealing other specific vehicle charges; lowering the state income tax rate to 4.5% and phasing in a further reduction in the rate to 3.5%; ending state and local taxes and charges, except 911 charges, on telecommunication service customer accounts; and stating that, with certain specified exceptions, any added charges on vehicles and telecommunication service customer accounts shall be tax increases? – Colorado Proposition 101

This November, voters in Colorado will decide whether to reign in Gov. Ritter’s illegal tax increases, thanks to Proposition 101. Prop. 101 is a broad measure that will reverse the recent increases in vehicle fees, lower overall taxation for all Coloradans, restore Colorado’s TABOR provision that requires voter approval for all tax increases, and eliminate a number of nagging fees found on phone bills.

Naturally, statist groups and the local media recoiled at the proposal. It would bankrupt the State (Government that is). It would require the elimination of vast arrays of services, the standard doom and gloom from those who always want more government. No state has failed because of too little government or taxation. The collapse of California, New York, and New Jersey prove that too much government and taxation is the path to ruin. Since voters can always re-raise taxes later, Shout Bits heartily endorses Prop 101.

Still, voters might wonder why Qwest, the local old fashioned phone company, is opposed to the elimination of state telecom taxes and fees. Would Qwest not welcome reducing its customers’ monthly bills? Wouldn’t that free customers to buy more of Qwest’s services? Perhaps this is part of the reason Qwest soon will cease to exist, but Prop. 101 exposes the sleazy co-dependency between big business and big government.

Qwest is regulated by an abusive wing of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, the PUC. As with many of Qwest’s territories, the Colorado PUC has grown fat by shaking down its subjects, forcing them to provide money losing services in the name of social justice. In particular Prop 101 would repeal a tax that funds the PUC’s requirement that Qwest provide old fashioned phone service to the poor and those who live in the country. In a free market, the price of phone service in the country would be much higher than in the city because there are fewer country folk to share the cost of running wires everywhere. Qwest is concerned that its investment in these high cost phone lines would go to waste if it ceased to get so called Universal Service money from taxation. Better still, Qwest’s competitors pay into the Universal Service Fund. Expect a campaign against Prop. 101 showing people burning to death because Prop. 101 took away the phone that could have called 911.

The problem with this argument is that Universal Service, and the tax everyone must pay to fund it, does nearly nothing to benefit today’s consumers. Universal Service funds cheap phone services to the poor, but nowadays poor people overwhelmingly prefer cell phones for their flexibility and convenience. Poor people already get free cell phones and service for up to a year to help them reestablish themselves. On the other end, Universal Service primarily helps rich country customers. The real farmland countryside is not served by Bell companies like Qwest; the real countryside is served by an army of tiny family owned rural carriers that get huge subsidies from the Feds. Qwest’s version of the countryside is more like Vail or Ted Turner’s ranch. These people are middle to upper class and are perfectly capable of paying their own way without a government handout.

So, why not eliminate a program that gives the poor what they don’t want or need and subsidizes wealthy vacationers? The answer lies in the timeless tango of regulation – codependency. The state PUC is filled with bureaucrats who relish their power, while big companies like Qwest have kowtowed to their PUC masters for so long they can no longer make a valid business decision without government support. A simple proposal to defund this corruption by eliminating a wasteful and regressive tax would bring the cubical walls of this stem winding parasite crashing down. Both big government and big corporations defend the status quo because it supports them at the expense of hapless and often unaware consumers. As always, government is taking from the many to give to the few – in this instance the undeserving few.

Voters should be skeptical of the self-serving cries to keep the status quo of big government, illegal taxes, and cronyism. Vote for Prop. 101 if you live in Colorado. After four years of illegal tax increases and wasteful expansion of government into areas like union mandates and green energy, it is time to give the Government a dose of the reality with which everyone else is already well familiar.