Palin opposes tax to help developmentally disabled, regarding CO ballot initiative

[jefferson_dem]

Palin opposes tax to help developmentally disabled
posted by: Jeffrey Wolf written by: Adam Schrager

DENVER - Republican Vice Presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) is speaking against a Colorado ballot initiative designed to help the state's developmentally disabled population by raising the sales tax.
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Palin made the comments Monday in Colorado against Amendment 51 which seeks to raise the sales tax by one cent on every $10 spent in each of the next two years.

The money would go to help the roughly 12,000 kids and adults in Colorado who currently are on a wait list to receive state services such as home nursing care and job training. They suffer from autism, Down syndrome and mental retardation. Palin's son has Down syndrome and she has campaigned as an advocate for special needs families.

"There's got to be an alternative to raising taxes," Palin said, while answering a question submitted by former Colorado First Lady Frances Owens, who describes herself as a "fiscal conservative," a supporter of the McCain-Palin ticket and as one of the spokespeople in favor of Amendment 51. "It's a matter of prioritizing the dollars that are already there in government. What I did as governor in Alaska is prioritize for a great increase in funding for students with special needs up there and I think Colorado can do that also.

"It doesn't necessarily mean increasing taxes to meet those needs. It's all a matter of prioritization," said Palin.

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http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=102301&catid=188

[earthside]

1. What Does Palin Know?

I live in Colorado ... I don't need some ditzy Alaskan telling me how to vote on ballot initiatives that she doesn't know anything about.

That being said, I am voting no on Amendment 51 ... it is too big of a permanent sales tax increase, a regressive tax as the recession starts to set in here.

What we need is a progressive income tax in this state, the wealthy need to be paying their fair share to support ideas like helping the developmentally disabled.