All - there is an initiative in Colorado to punish oil & gas companies for having record profits, all because our state gave them an incentive in the form of a tax break in the 70's. Now that this decision is resulting is some $300M estimated taxes not received from this industry, there is a ballot measure to repeal this. Below is my letter to this cause, which I have posted to them via their site, and now here. If I get a response, I will continue the dialogue here!

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Dear "A Smarter Colorado",

Why do you frame this issue as an investment in Colorado, when it is a massive tax increase on industry and commercialism in our state? You wager that the oil & natural gas reserves in our state are still important enough to the companies that would mine & refine it that they would put up with the additional taxes you propose they would be charged. To accomplish this, you attempt to coerce the public to vote for this by promising them benefits from the tax proceeds in the form of scholarships, parks, & roads. Ironically, these are many of the same benefits promised to Coloradans through the lottery.

Truth be told, your ads and the cause they represent smack of entitlement. You say that because of a decision made in the past to incentivize these oil & gas companies to work in our state, we are now owed these funds and that there is an obligation of these same companies to pay hundreds of millions of dollars simply because they now make "record profits".

Would the "investment" in Colorado have occurred when we created a favorable environment in which they could operate? When we actually gave them the breaks in the first place to prompt them to move their jobs and facilities here? Why do you think that if we received benefits from giving the breaks back then that we will not suffer setbacks now if they are removed?

Honestly, the entitlement that is most offensive to me as a citizen of Colorado is that you actually believe you have a right to these funds - that because these companies are experiencing record profits that the state has the right to put their hands into the pockets of the companies more than they already are. These companies do already pay substantial taxes, but it is not enough for the burgeoning state government and the operations they wish to conduct.

Oil and natural gas companies provide a service and a product to the citizens of this state and country. It is in the trading of value for value that they continue to exist and thrive. Punishing them for this benefit creates an environment counterproductive to business. If government provided a similar benefit - one that was in demand by the market of its citizenry - they would also be in the same situation as oil companies: flush with cash. But because they are not, they seek to take by force of law that which they did not earn. And framing this punishment as a benefit to citizens is an affront.

Or, to be more clear - if you strong arm a company, and receive assistance for that purpose from the populace based on their belief they will benefit, you have bribed your citizenry and made them an accessory.

I will not support this effort. Because I cannot support it based on these principles, I will oppose it and I will work to convince others of its counterproductive nature, means, and ends. I do not enjoy higher prices at the pump - but if the laws of economics tell us anything, higher prices mean a constriction of supply, either due to higher demand, lower supply, or both. Making it more difficult to produce supply through taxation does not and will not lower prices at the pump. And paying off the people of Colorado with better trails, roads, and scholarships also will not help in fuel prices. The opposite is actually likely to occur, as with more difficulty to deliver supply will raise prices, contrary to what any opinion may otherwise state.

To be sure, if you wanted to increase taxes, this measure should have been adopted when the initial break was given, and prices were low. But to do it now will not cause prices to drop, but rather increase. The destruction of value where it is does not create it where it is not; the taxes you take from companies that provide jobs, services, and products does not create a value in the purposes your apply those funds to.

This is not the direction to move if you do truly wish for a smarter Colorado, simply a more expensive one.

Sincerely,
Bret Ceren