Suppose you had a son, and you gave him fifty dollars to spend on whatever items he needed for the week. Suppose your son came back to you a day later, asking for more money. What would your first question be to him? My bet’s on: What did you buy with the first $50 I gave you?

Government should be monitored the same way. There should be spending transparency in all levels, so taxpayers can trust their money is being used wisely and efficiently. If the Colorado government uses tax dollars to support a bloated bureaucracy that doesn’t use competitive bidding practices and sets inappropriate priorities, then possibly it needs to have some internal reform before three ballot initiatives pass that will raise taxes. Does Colorado have a bloated bureaucracy? No one knows, nor will know, as long as there is no transparency.

The Independence Institute makes the same point in another op-ed, this time for the Denver Daily News. Read it here.
If the Colorado government cannot be trusted to explain to taxpayers how their money is currently being used, why would voters give it more cash?

Keep the drum-beat going: NO TAXATION WITHOUT INFORMATION!

Amy Oliver and Stephanie Kubala of the Colorado Independence Institute wrote a great op-ed discussing the need for transparency in Colorado’s government spending, especially as state taxes and fees have soared there in the last decade, nearly doubling the state budget since 2000.

And still, tax-eaters demand more. Oliver and Kubala cite three 2008 ballot measures that could raise taxes- Amendment 51, Amendment 58, and House Speaker Andrew Romanoff’s SAFE initiative.

Taxpayers should demand a complete accounting of every penny, and if officials are unable to do so, then maybe budgets are too big already.

Thanks to the Sam Adams Alliance, Colorado taxpayers have a new motto: No taxation without information!

Providing information is easy. Simply put government check registries online in a searchable database that includes contracts, grants and expenditures.

More than 20 states, including Kansas, Minnesota, Florida and New York already do this in some fashion.

According to the article, Colorado does have some leadership in the transparency movement, praising the Fort Collins city council, State Representative Don Marostica, the Colorado Press Association for their advocacy of opening the books.

Oliver and Kubala’s advice:

When some elected official or special interest group want to increase your taxes, you have a response: No taxation without information!