1. Initiative to decrease state income tax becomes 8th measure on Colorado ballot
2. Local roundup
3. Comparing stances: presidential candidates on Medicare for All

Initiative to decrease state income tax becomes 8th measure on Colorado ballot

On Aug. 17, a Colorado initiative that would decrease the state income tax rate was certified for the Nov. 3 ballot. 

Initiative #306 would decrease the tax for individuals, estates, and trusts from 4.63% of federal taxable income to 4.55%. The measure would also reduce the tax rate for domestic and foreign C corporations operating in Colorado from 4.63% of Colorado net income to 4.55%. Both changes would go into effect starting with the 2020 tax year.

Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute, and Colorado State Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg (R) sponsored the initiative. Sonnenberg said, “Small business owners all over Colorado are feeling the pain of these shutdowns, and their incomes have suffered as a result. In many rural communities, there are no big-box stores, just small businesses. An across the board income tax rate reduction will allow these business owners and their employees to keep and spend more of their own money. State government doesn’t need to increase its already bloated budget.” 

Ballotpedia has not identified formal opposition to this ballot measure.

Colorado has had a flat 4.63% individual income tax rate since 2000. It was 4.75% in 1999 and 5% from 1987 through 1998. 

As of 2018, nine states had a flat tax rate. Thirty-two states had graduated income tax rates (those with higher incomes pay higher taxes). 

Two states (Tennessee and New Hampshire) only taxed income from dividends and rent, and seven states did not have an income tax. As of 2018, flat tax rates ranged from 3.07% in Pennsylvania to 5.25% in North Carolina.

One other statewide ballot measure regarding income tax is on the 2020 ballot in Illinois. The measure would allow for a graduated income tax in the state rather than a flat rate.

Initiative #306 is the 8th measure to be certified for the ballot in Colorado. Four other citizen initiatives are on the ballot, including a veto referendum. Also on the ballot are two constitutional amendments and one state law referred by the legislature.

Supporters of three additional initiatives have submitted signatures and those measures are awaiting certification. The measures concern higher maximum bet limits at Colorado's casinos, paid family and medical leave, and voter approval of government enterprises.

Colorado voters decided 13 statewide ballot measures in 2018 and nine in 2016. The average number of measures in even-numbered election years between 2010 and 2018 was eight.

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Local roundup

Here’s a selection of local election results following the Aug. 18 elections in Alaska, Florida, and Wyoming.

Miami-Dade County, Florida, mayoral election

Esteban Bovo Jr. and Daniella Levine Cava were the top-two finishers in the nonpartisan primary for Miami-Dade County mayor on Aug. 18. Bovo and Cava received 30% and 29% of the vote, respectively, with 92% of precincts reporting. Because neither candidate received 50% of the vote, they advanced to the general election in November.

Although the mayoral race is nonpartisan, Bovo is a member of the Republican Party and Cava is a member of the Democratic Party. Incumbent Carlos Gimenez, who was first elected in 2011, won the Republican nomination in Florida's 26th Congressional District and will face Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D) in November.

Miami-Dade County’s population was 2,662,874 in 2014, according to the United States Census Bureau.

Miami, Florida, Straw Ballot Question, COVID-19 Screening Program at Miami International Airport

Voters approved a non-binding question supporting a COVID-19 screening program at Miami International Airport 85% to 15%. 

The ballot question read: “Would you support requiring the Miami-Dade County Mayor who has authority over the Miami-Dade County Aviation Department to start a program to screen all passengers arriving at Miami International Airport for the COVID-19 virus?”

Comparing stances: presidential candidates on Medicare for All

Last week, we started a new feature in the Brew comparing presidential candidates’ stances on key policy issues. We first looked at what the four noteworthy candidates say about student loan debt. As a reminder, Ballotpedia uses the following credentials to determine who is noteworthy: candidate credentials, polling, ballot access, fundraising, and campaign trail activity.

Today, let’s look at the candidates’ stances on Medicare for All. Subscribers to our Presidential News Briefing saw this feature in their inboxes last week. 

Joe Biden (D)

Biden proposes protecting and building on the Affordable Care Act instead of switching to a Medicare for All system.

Biden's campaign website says: "Instead of starting from scratch and getting rid of private insurance, he has a plan to build on the Affordable Care Act by giving Americans more choice, reducing health care costs, and making our health care system less complex to navigate. Whether you’re covered through your employer, buying your insurance on your own, or going without coverage altogether, the Biden Plan will give you the choice to purchase a public health insurance option like Medicare."

Howie Hawkins (G)

Hawkins' campaign website says, "The Hawkins Healthcare Plan outlined below treats health care as a human right and a public good. It starts by immediately implementing National Health Insurance, what is commonly called today a single-payer, improved Medicare for All. In the second phase, it builds out a National Health Service where health care facilities are publicly owned, health care workers are salaried, and the system is governed by community boards elected by the public (two-thirds of the seats) and health care workers (one-third of the seats). The second phase conducts a national assessment of unmet healthcare needs, develops a plan to meet those needs, implements the plan, and converts the system to a fully public and democratically-run healthcare service."

Jo Jorgensen (L)

Jo Jorgensen's campaign website says that she opposes a single-payer healthcare system. 

Donald Trump (R) 

In an op-ed published in USA Today, Donald Trump said that Medicare for All "would end Medicare as we know it and take away benefits that seniors have paid for their entire lives."

The op-ed said: "By eliminating Medicare as a program for seniors, and outlawing the ability of Americans to enroll in private and employer-based plans, the Democratic plan would inevitably lead to the massive rationing of health care. Under the Democrats' plan, today’s Medicare would be forced to die. Democrats would give total power and control over seniors’ health care decisions to the bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. Government-run health care is just the beginning. Democrats are also pushing massive government control of education, private-sector businesses and other major sectors of the U.S. economy."

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