Home | Common Sense Institute

Colorado Budget: Then and Now

Colorado Budget Then and Now illuminates the meaningful changes in Colorado state spending over the last twenty years. The following figures provide a summary overview of state spending across different state funds and agencies. The trends shown reflect the shifting priorities brought on as a direct result of the laws and budgets passed each legislative session.

Details

Colorado Jobs and Labor Force Update: October 2021

Driven by labor shortages and increased employment opportunities, job growth in October surged to its highest monthly amount since July. Labor force participation of mothers during the pandemic lagged consistently up until September. Their overall participation rate in October remained higher than pre-pandemic levels for the second straight month.

The Economic Footprint of Homelessness in Metro Denver

Common Sense Institute has partnered with several local organizations and leaders to conduct a three-phase project to understand the many challenges and types of homelessness. This is Phase one of this project and is focused on the current resources dedicated to the homeless in Metro Denver.

Homelessness Ecosystem Analysis Phase 2

Homelessness is a visible outcome of a system that does not consistently work for everyone. This report is the result of efforts to understand the systemic factors that impact homelessness in the Metropolitan Denver area through a human-centered systems design lens.

RECENT RESEARCH

Are Denver Taxes Too High? The Fiscal Impacts of Ordinance 304 “Enough Taxes Already”

Oct 12, 2021 | 2021 Research, Ballot Issues, Featured, Featured Research, Jobs & Our Economy, Ordinance 304, Recent Research, Taxes

Ordinance 304 or the “Enough Taxes Already” ballot initiative proposes to cut the City of Denver’s sales tax from 4.81% to 4.5% and impose a cap at the latter rate.

Dollars and Data 2021

Sep 29, 2021 | 2021 Research, Education, Featured, Featured Research, Jobs & Our Economy, Recent Research, Research

If Colorado is to have a substantive public discourse about how to improve educational outcomes, there needs to be a common understanding of how K-12 public education is funded in the state. This study analyzes statewide and regional trends in K-12 revenues and spending over the past decade to help ground conversations in facts.

View More Recent Research

Listen to the Common Sense Digest Podcast Here

CSI’S MISSION

CSI’s mission is to examine the fiscal impacts of policies, initiatives, and proposed laws so that Coloradans are educated and informed on issues impacting their lives. Common Sense Institute was founded in 2010 originally as Common Sense Policy Roundtable. CSI’s founders were a concerned group of business and community leaders who observed that divisive partisanship was overwhelming policymaking and believed that sound economic analysis could help Coloradans make fact-based and common sense decisions.