Mike Johnston’s Proposed Sales Tax Increase

On July 22, 2024, Joshua Sharf, Yvonne Paez, and Holly Kasun joined the show. Sharf analyzed Mayor Mike Johnston’s proposed sales tax increases that would push Denver’s rate above 9%, arguing that per capita tax revenue has nearly doubled since 2016 while restrictive zoning policies prevent actual housing affordability Paez, a former Army Captain and SWAT commander, provided expert analysis of the catastrophic security.

Denver’s Sales Tax Surge and the Squeeze on Working Families

Start listening at 74:03 – Hour 2

Joshua Sharf, Senior Fellow in Fiscal Policy at the Independence Institute, warns that Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s push for yet another sales tax increase threatens to make the city even more unaffordable for working families. The proposed half-percent increase for affordable housing would push Denver’s total sales tax rate above 9%, on top of an existing proposal for Denver Health.

Sharf explains the numbers paint a stark picture of government growth: per capita sales tax revenue has nearly doubled from $972 in 2016 to $1,750 in 2023. For a family of four, that represents an additional $260 per month flowing from household budgets to city coffers. “That could be the difference between being able to afford rent and not being able to afford rent,” Sharf argues.

The fiscal policy expert challenges the premise that more tax revenue will solve affordability problems. The city’s approach of recycling taxpayer money through housing subsidies while maintaining restrictive zoning policies and urban growth boundaries creates incoherent policy. Building reform and encouraging housing construction outside transportation corridors remain off the table as a matter of ideology, not economics.

“What it is saying is that the least important thing that government can do with that dollar, the least important thing it can do, is more important than the most important thing you can do with it.”

Joshua Sharf, Senior Fellow, Independence Institute

Security Failures and the Trump Rally Assassination Attempt

Start listening at 48:38 – Hour 1

Yvonne Paez, a former U.S. Army Captain and military SWAT commander who oversaw security for sensitive facilities and VIPs, delivers a devastating assessment of the Secret Service failures at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Drawing on her extensive experience planning security operations, Paez concludes the errors were so fundamental that “anybody could have done a better job at planning the security for this event.”

Paez methodically catalogs the cascade of failures: unsecured rooftops within rifle range, a suspect with a range finder allowed into the venue, lost tracking of the shooter multiple times, unsecured ladders providing roof access, and local law enforcement stationed inside a building unaware someone was climbing onto their roof. The Secret Service director’s subsequent excuse that agents couldn’t secure a nearby rooftop because of its slope drew particular scorn from Paez, who illustrates the absurdity through a Mexican fable about a bull chase where every escape option is rejected until the victim realizes “what you want is for the bull to get me.”

The former security professional emphasizes that multi-jurisdictional operations are standard practice, with the Secret Service teaming with local assets and maintaining command and control of the entire operation. Any failure, regardless of which agency personnel were involved, falls squarely on the Secret Service. There is no pointing of fingers because ultimate responsibility belongs to whoever holds command authority.

“I don’t feel bad at all because we’re not splitting hairs. This was just completely, completely botched. And so the security plan was so, so, so bad that honestly any person from any profession, a pastry chef, an architect, a nail technician, physical therapist, cab driver, lawyer, anybody could have done a better job at planning the security for this event.”

Yvonne Paez, Former U.S. Army Captain and SWAT Commander

First Amendment Victory Against Election Integrity Lawsuit

Start listening at 103:09 – Hour 2

Holly Kasun shares breaking news of her directed verdict victory in federal court against the NAACP, League of Women Voters, and Mi Familia Vota. The groups, backed by the activist law firm Free Speech for People, had sued Kasun and two other volunteers alleging they went door-to-door armed, intimidating minority voters. The allegations were, in Kasun’s words, “wholly fabricated.”

The lawsuit stemmed from USEIP’s 2020 election canvassing project, where volunteers verified Secretary of State voter roll records by asking residents simple questions: confirming their identity, whether they voted, and their party affiliation. The canvassers found an 8 to 10 percent anomaly rate, including votes cast in names of people who said they didn’t vote and missing votes for people who confirmed they did.

After fighting the case since March 2022, Kasun and her co-defendants prevailed when the judge issued a directed verdict after hearing the plaintiffs’ case, meaning the accusations were so baseless the defense didn’t need to present evidence. Kasun credits the prayers of supporters: “There were so many things that happened in this case that I have to acknowledge. I think it was your prayers that got us through.”

“If we wouldn’t have fought all the way to the very end, they would have gotten away with it. And that tactic would have been codified in their playbook for other lawsuits against other people.”

Holly Kasun, USEIP Election Integrity Advocate