The Denver Post opines today, “Also on the chopping block is half the tourism promotion budget, a particularly counterintuitive move, since such studies show tourism promotion spending brings back $13 for every dollar spent.”
Uh, no.
First, the Post isn’t reporting the full results of the “study” in question. The study alleges that the “state taxes returned per ad dollar invested” amount to $5.81; the rest is local taxes. (See page 21.)
Second, and more importantly, the study itself is laughable, as my dad and I pointed out earlier this month, and as Vincent Carroll has also noted. Yet, so far as I’m aware, this is the third time the Post has mentioned these studies in an editorial without critical comment.
The entire budget for corporate welfare should be eliminated.
Let’s hope the state’s legislators aren’t as dumb as the Post.