Just ask Polis — Amendment 87 ‘would destroy our economy’ (Editorial)
By The Gazette Editorial Board
Published October 11, 2026 5:00am
Some call Amendment 87 a “progressive tax.” Some call it a “graduated tax.”
But Colorado Gov. Jared Polis calls it what it is: a “$2.7 billion tax hike” that is “bad policy that would destroy our economy and raise taxes for low-income Coloradans.”
That was his take on a podcast just a few weeks ago — in his latest jab at the proposal.
It’s safe to say by now Polis is a firm “no” on the amendment, which is on Colorado’s Nov. 3 mail ballot.
The Gazette’s editorial board is a “no” on it, as well, in a rare point of convergence with our progressive governor. Polis was elected to his post as a liberal Democrat from Boulder in 2018 — hardly our political stripe — but he also was a spectacularly successful internet entrepreneur before entering politics. He knows what makes an economy tick — and what can make it tank.
And Amendment 87 would be a lead weight. Just ask Polis, who has been on record for some time now as a staunch critic of the proposal.
On a Sept. 14 episode of the podcast “Crux Politica,” Polis tore into 87. He cited it among ballot issues that, “would make our state less competitive, not more,” and bashed it as, “the $2.7 billion tax hike that would also raise taxes for seniors and for veterans.”
“They’re calling that a progressive tax,” he said. “It’s not. It’s just a bad policy that would destroy our economy and raise taxes for low-income Coloradans.”
Indeed, the measure’s permanent tax hike stands to chase off not only higher-income earners but also businesses to states with more reasonable tax codes. Nevada and neighboring Wyoming have no income tax, by the way and neither do the nation’s second- and third-largest states, Texas and Florida.
On the same podcast, Polis also touted a rival ballot proposal The Gazette’s editorial board has endorsed, Proposition 136. It would cap the state’s income tax at 4.4%, the rate of the state’s current flat income tax. He said he supports the measure — and predicted it would pass.
“It’s very popular,” he said. He also noted the irony that if both measures pass, Amendment 87 would cause “devastating cuts to education.”
“It actually means $500 million or $600 million less for the state if the other good initiative (136) passes, which it will,” he said.
Polis said Amendment 87 would backfire because if both proposals become law, but 136 garners more votes, only Amendment 87’s nominal tax cuts for the lowest-income brackets the proposal creates would take effect. Its provisions socking it to higher-income households with higher taxes would be barred by Proposition 136’s tax cap.
Amendment 87 would replace Colorado’s simple flat tax with a dizzying array of tax brackets ranging from 3.7% to 8.4% — nearly doubling the top rate Coloradans must pay.
Its advocates claim its soak-the-rich premise is about fairness — that it will ensure the rich pay their fair share.
But they already do under the existing 4.4% rate. Those who earn more, in fact, pay more.
It’s simple math: For a household with a taxable income of $90,000, 4.4% is $3,960. For a household earning $900,000, it’s $39,600.
It’s almost as if the measure’s complicated provisions were intended to obscure its true purpose: As Polis reminds us, it’s a $2.7 billion-a-year tax hike.
The ballot makes that perfectly clear to voters in the proposal’s opening line: “Shall state taxes be increased $2.7 billion annually …”
Take it from Gov. Polis: Amendment 87 is a really bad idea. Vote “no.”
