When Hick budget director defends suspending tax break for seniors, reporters should note that he made same proposal when he worked for Bill Owens
In its coverage of the release of Hickenlooper’s proposed state budget, The Denver Post predicted a partisan battle in the state legislature next year over Hick’s proposal to suspend Senior Homestead Exemption, which gives some seniors a property-tax break and costs the state around $100 million in tax revenue.
As it pointed to signs that the GOP will fight Hick on the Homestead Exemption, The Post noted, as it has in the past, that Republicans themselves previously voted to suspend the same Homestead tax break to seniors.
That kind of context is always a must for journalists, but even more so today with partisanship gone wild and voters baffled by it all.
And in the case of the Homestead Exemption, you can argue that another contextual tidbit is useful to pass on to readers: Hickenlooper’s current Budget Director, Henry Sobanet, quoted extensively in The Post piece, first proposed this same thing in 2003 when he was Bill Owens’ deputy budget director.
As The Post had the good sense to report when this issue arose in July, Republicans voted for the suspension in 2003, and then they reversed themselves in 2009 and 2010. This is important background whenever Sobanet gets mentioned. He was proposing the same thing, for the same reasons, when he was working for a Republican governor.
And it’s likely we’ll be hearing a lot for Sobanet, as he’s the wonk assigned to deliver the Hick Administration’s view that suspending the Homestead Examption is the only option left, if you don’t want to raise taxes or make further cuts. As he told The Post:
“There are only a few places to find money to balance the budget,” Sobanet said, “and half the budget goes to K-12 education and higher education. And so, $98.6 million to senior homestead means you have to find budget reductions most likely in K-12 or higher education.”
The Post’s prediction of partisan fight over the Homestead Exemption looks right, given that Evergreen Republican Rep. Cheri Gerou, Vice Chair of the Joint Budget Committee, told The Post that she was “concerned” about suspending the tax break for seniors for another year.
“While we appreciate many of the proposals the governor has made, the governor’s budget does raise some points of concern, like increasing taxes on seniors who have been hit so hard by this recession,” said Rep Cheri Gerou, R-Evergreen, vice chairwoman of the Joint Budget Committee. “House Republicans are committed to working with the governor and Senate to pass a responsible and honest budget.”
On Tuesday, The Post quoted from a July statement by House Speaker Frank McNulty, in which, it’s fair to say, he put clamped his teeth down on the Homestead Exemption and promised not to let go:
“The days of balancing Colorado’s budget on the backs of seniors are over,” McNulty declared in a statement in July in the face of improved state revenues. “Tough budget times led to the suspension of the senior homestead exemption. That meant less money for seniors to spend on medicine and food during this economic crisis. This is money we can now get back to them.”
The Post also reported previously, as it did again Tuesday, that House Republicans didn’t specify furtehr budget cuts that they would make if the Homestead Exemption were not suspended, as proposed by Hick. More cuts? Tax increases? The Post has responsibly asked, if you don’t like suspending the Homestead Exemption, what gives?