What's in a name? A lot, apparently, when it comes to distinguishing "state taxpayers" from "federal taxpayers."
Zoom-zoom/Dreamstime
According to state spokeswoman Myung Oak Kim, Coloradans need not worry about the $349,000 annual payroll for the staff hired to oversee the fire hose of stimulus dollars aimed at Colorado. The spigot back in Washington draws on hundreds of billions in newly-created federal cash, but Kim assured The Denver Post last week: "federal taxpayers — not state taxpayers — are signing their checks."
It's Venn diagram time: do these two circles of taxpayers overlap? Of course they do. Taxpayers are taxpayers, and Washington gobbles up far more of Coloradans' personal wealth than Denver does. And strictly speaking, state Treasurer Cary Kennedy is signing the checks. The cash comes from China and other holders of the federal debt.
But at least one mystery has been solved here. In June, Face The State reported a newly-hired "minority outreach coordinator" would be paid $80,000 a year. At the time, Kim, a former Rocky Mountain News reporter now working for the "economic recovery group," told us its funding source was "unclear."
That job has since been wrapped in with the other federally-funded positions. We're glad to know Coloradans have zero-zilch-nada duty to actually pay for this new member of the state bureaucracy. Does this mean we can skip filing our 1040 next year?