An individual considers many factors in evaluating the overall value a state of the U.S. can provide for a person or a business. Many of these factors involve non-quantifiable, subjective variables such as the state’s culture, scenery, and people. Yet, evaluating a state’s finances is one of the few quantifiable and objective measures an individual can obtain. Information involving a state’s tax burden, financial status and goals serve useful in assessing a state’s value. After obtaining such information, an individual can enhance their assessment of state’s ability to provide financial favorability to a person or a business. In such a case, research indicates that the state of Colorado, when compared to other states, provide favorable overall economic value for both individuals and businesses. The governmental state of Colorado, like all other states of the U.S., attributes many different taxing sources to obtain funding. The United States Census Bureau measures federal and state taxes in five general taxing categories, which include property taxes, sales and gross receipts taxes, license taxes, income taxes, and other taxes. These tax categories help assess the tax burden on individuals, businesses, and properties. In 2011, Colorado ranked 24th in the U.S. in total tax collected with 9.467 billion dollars (U.S. Census Bureau) . This is a 10.4% increase in total tax collected from 2010’s 8.575 billion dollars (Telles, O’Sullivan, and Willhide, pg. 2). A report released by U.S Census Bureau indicates that this annual increase is caused by a rise in severance tax revenue. Severance tax revenues are taxes placed on extracted natural resources such as oil, gas, and coal (Telles, O’Sullivan, and Willhide, pg. 1). This increase can be caused by either a rise in the severance tax rates or by an increase in production of natural resources
Colorado’s department of