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Rocky Mountain Lies: Colorado Governor Jared Polis Avoided Paying Taxes for Years.

A New Bombshell Report Details Loopholes Used by Polis to Dodge Income Tax.


Photo for: Rocky Mountain Lies: Colorado Governor Jared Polis Avoided Paying Taxes for Years.

Key Points

  • Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) didn’t pay federal income taxes in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
  • From 2010 to 2018, Polis’ tax rate was just 8.2% even though his income averaged $1.5 million.
  • He was very vocal about having President Trump release his taxes a few years ago.

Governor Jared Polis (D-CO) isn’t too fond of paying his taxes. In fact, according to a ProPublica investigation, he paid nothing in federal income taxes from 2013-2015; his overall tax rate from 2010-2018 was just 8.2%, while a worker making $45,000 back in 2018 paid 19%.

Pretty damning stuff for governor Polis, especially considering he was very vocal just a few years ago about President Trump sharing his tax returns with the American people.

Candidate Polis refused to share his tax returns in 2018 – now we know why.

Republican strategist Michael Fields of Colorado Rising Action thinks Governor Polis is “out of touch” with the political climate at the moment.

“He’s not dealing with what everyone else is dealing with in terms of the pandemic, you know. He’s extremely wealthy — he’s getting around taxes while we are paying more, while inflation is hurting everybody,” Fields told ProPublica.

Polis’ team isn’t denying hs used legal loopholes to dodge federal income taxes – they released the following statement:

“Governor Polis has paid all the taxes that he is required by law and no one has suggested otherwise and he completely agrees that the tax system disproportionately favors the wealthy. That is why he has long championed tax reforms to make a better, fairer system, especially for middle-class workers and families,” the statement read.

True, he did pay everything required by law, which was basically nothing, but that doesn’t change the ugly optics of it all. Axios pulls back the curtain on how Polis was able to “alleviate his tax burden” – including donating to his own charity.

“Polis managed to lower his tax rate through legal means — largely philanthropic donations that eliminated half his income tax liability. He donated to his own charity, the Jared Polis Foundation, which spent $2 million on mailers promoting his work on the state’s education board,” Axios reports.

“To shelter his income from taxes, Polis also used a family business, Jovian Holdings, the report found. That company’s board includes family members as its directors and his friend Art Laffer, a conservative economist,” Axios added.

It’s a bit of a car wreck, and one Polis won’t easily walk away from. “No wonder he has worked so hard to hide these facts from Colorado voters,” state GOP chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown said in a statement.

Polis is up for reelection next year.