Mandy Connell

THE NOT SO SPECIAL SESSION IS OVER And Democrats, instead of looking at cutting anything, just raised taxes on businesses instead. And I say that because not a single Republican voted to raise taxes on small business, and every bill brought forth by Republicans was killed on the very first day of the session. So what happened? The Denver Gazette has this wrap up:Five tax bills passed along party-lines in both chambers, offered by the majority Democrats in the House. The measures are designed to raise general fund revenue to cover a portion of the shortfall. The fiscal notes said they could raise as much as $253.2 million. But the rest is now up to Gov. Jared Polis, who will present a spending reduction plan to the Joint Budget Committee on Thursday afternoon that could cover another third of the shortfall. The state's general fund reserve, set at 15% of general fund spending, or $2.33 billion, will cover the last third.Those dollars, however, will have to be recovered in the 2026-27 budget — and, already, the