With just two weeks to go before a petition deadline, supporters of a ballot measure to put a graduated income-tax system in the Colorado constitution rallied canvassers in Denver for a final sprint of signature-gathering.
More than a dozen Democratic state lawmakers endorsing the Protect Colorado’s Future campaign were on hand at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in the Park Hill neighborhood, where they said the group’s proposed constitutional amendment, Initiative 195, would help bring an end to the last several years of painful budget shortages at the Capitol.
“What we faced this year was devastating cuts to services that families across Colorado rely on,” said state Rep. Lorena Garcia, a Westminster Democrat. “We can avoid that as best we can next year only if we pass the graduated income tax. If you are motivated by that — because you don’t want families to suffer, you don’t want schools and teachers to not get paid, you don’t want childcare centers to shut down, you don’t want more cuts to Medicaid — then you will support the graduated income tax.”…