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Tax proposals fail in lagging economy
Posted: 11.06.2008 at 4:12 PM
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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- El Paso County Initiative 1A was defeated Tuesday. It would have raised the county sales tax by one percent. The money would have gone to the Sheriff's office and health department.

But that wasn't the only tax initiative voters said no to, and some say the lagging economy likely played a role.

A statewide sales tax increase that would have gone to services for the developmentally disabled was also defeated. Amendment 58, dealing with taxes on the state's oil and natural gas companies failed after opponents said it would pass through to consumers.

Amendment 59 also went down, which would have taken rebates given to taxpayers under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights and put the money in a savings account for education.

The El Paso County Sheriff's Office will likely cut 32 positions, including at least 12 at the Criminal Justice Center, six on patrols, and four investigators.

"For those calls that are not life-threatening it may be four or five [hours], maybe a day or two before we can respond and do the investigation," Sheriff Terry Maketa said.

Some school programs will also see cuts.

"When you're talking about cutting D.A.R.E and school resource, those are pro-active. Those programs keep people out of the criminal justice system. Now we'll just have to be in reactive mode," said Maketa.

"Statewide most of them went down except for the gambling, because people say, 'If I don't gamble I don't get taxed," said UCCS Political Science Professor Josh Dunn.

Maketa says he is disappointed by the defeat of 1A and thought he had made a compelling case. But says understands why voters took the economy into account.

"There's all the indicators that consumer spending is down. When that happens people tend to hold on to their own money, so when you bring forward a tax initiative people say no we need to hold on to our own money for our own needs."

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