Welcome back to the show.
Last year, Republicans in Washington finally achieved one
of their biggest goals yet--
killing Batman!
I'm sorry.
I meant passing comprehensive tax cuts.
While it's still too early to tell how these drastic tax
cuts could affect schools, infrastructure,
and other government projects across the country,
one state is ahead of the curve Mike Rubens has more.
MIKE RUBENS: Magical, wondrous Colorado.
It's like Wakanda for white people.
Epic vistas, legal weed, Red Rocks, non-Nazi Aryans,
legal weed, a centrist governor who
will maintain earnest eye contact
while playing the guitar.
[STRUMMING GUITAR]
But most importantly--
Colorado's economy is booming.
Home to the country's lowest unemployment rate.
MIKE RUBENS: Yes, Colorado is perfect.
The end.
I'm just visiting with you!
This is "Full Frontal."
So the economy is booming.
What's the problem?
We don't get to benefit from any
of the advantages of growth.
We have underfunded schools, unaffordable
higher education, student debt that is just crushing people.
We certainly don't have enough money for our transportation
infrastructure.
We're going to strangle ourselves on our own growth.
MIKE RUBENS: All that new business
should be lots of new tax revenue to go around,
but a severely restrictive tax law prevents that.
So schools and bridges and roads are like--
I don't know.
What's a good Colorado metaphor?
[SCREAMING]
Yeah, like that.
How Colorado got in this predicament is freaky.
I am a crazy man.
MIKE RUBENS: More on that guy soon,
but first that tax law, which has a really catchy name.
TABOR is the Taxpayers Bill of Rights.
- TABOR? - TABOR.
TABOR.
ANNOUNCER: TOBOR, the most fantastic
creation of man's mind.
MIKE RUBENS: Actually, it's TABOR,
but look at that fucking robot!
It's an amendment to the state constitution
that finally passed about 25 years ago.
It says that any tax increase of any kind
needs to be voted on by the people of Colorado.
Isn't that a great idea?
If you don't want to raise taxes.
So you're saying that no one will ever vote to raise taxes?
Would you?
Of course not.
Turns out, asking people to vote to raise their own taxes
is like asking dogs to vote in favor of vacuum cleaners.
TABOR has created a situation where the haves do fine,
but there's not enough money to share and spread
out with the have-nots.
MIKE RUBENS: Example, spending for K-12 education.
Colorado has dropped below Mississippi,
a word whose origin means underfunded public education.
And TABOR can be traced to the obsessive efforts
of this former legislator.
TABOR is Douglas Bruce
MIKE RUBENS: Doug Bruce, anti-tax crusader,
Mr. TABOR himself.
Ready?
MIKE RUBENS: Yep.
Let's do that one more time.
You mean you want me to get back in the car again?
MIKE RUBENS: It's OK-- - Come on.
MIKE RUBENS: [INAUDIBLE]
This is absurd.
MIKE RUBENS: Quick history.
It's 1992.
After two failed previous attempts,
future legislator Doug Bruce, looking sexy,
celebrates pushing through the TABOR amendment.
The liars lost, the people won.
MIKE RUBENS: It alters the course of Colorado history.
Doug Bruce has been incredibly influential
in the state of Colorado.
MIKE RUBENS: There's really no title that
could fully describe this--
oh, I guess there is.
Freedom fighter.
That's right.
Tax limitation is human liberation.
People would be very foolish.
They say civil rights just has to do
with benefits to black people.
Hispanics, blacks, orientals, whatever.
Is there a little bit of MLK in you?
Well, Martin Luther King and I are both freedom fighters.
Ashley's going to really like this.
Martin Luther King and I are both freedom fighters.
You gassy, conservative Stay Puft Marshmallow
Man looking mother--
Let me ask you this.
How do we pay for stuff that we share?
Street lights, roads.
We don't share them.
They belong to the government.
But you do use it.
Because I don't own it, so I can't
share it with other people.
What you're talking about are communal.
That's a word, the derivation of which is commune,
which is communism.
MIKE RUBENS: Sure, Doug may sound a little fringy--
You are a slave to the government.
MIKE RUBENS: --but that fringe is now mainstream conservative
ideology.
We tax you at 50%, you're half-slave, half-free.
Taxation is theft.
People have been beaten down by the government
for a long time.
He didn't pay any federal income tax.
So--
MIKE RUBENS: No, that makes you a rich asshole.
But it's also the guiding spirit of our new national tax bill,
which is going to mostly help dalmatian-snatching caviar
vampires like this, and leave the rest of us like this.
[SCREAMING]
Snow shark!
Is there any doubt in your mind looking
back that maybe you were wrong?
No.
But people are saying that TABOR--
You're talking to the wrong people.
You're talking to the leftists, the collectivists,
the sore losers.
Do you see any similarities between the GOP tax
plan and Doug Bruce's tax plan?
Well I think that it's all sort of a sham.
What's really going on here is a bunch of people
trying to protect their own.
It's greed?
Absolutely, it's greed.
MIKE RUBENS: Greed is something Douglas seems to understand.
This inexplicably effective lawmaker
ended up going to jail for--
surprise-- tax evasion.
There were property fines--
He was a slumlord.
MIKE RUBENS: There was an assault charge.
But think of it this way-- if someone like Doug
could change history, so can we.
And Doug may have his calling card,
but I've got one of my own.
I wasn't aware that this proceeding was going to turn
into a homosexual encounter.
It's just a hug.
I understand.
MIKE RUBENS: Fine.
If our country can't have a fair tax policy,
and I can't have Douglas, I'm just
going to go smoke some legal weed and fuck a robot.
ANNOUNCER: TOBOR!
[APPLAUSE]
We'll be right back.