Colorado state Rep. Sara Gagliardi, D-Arvada, at a town hall meeting a month ago, managed to avoid the phrase “tax increase” when asked about business tax exemptions removed by the Democratic-controlled state legislature earlier this year.

“Well, I did support [removing] the tax exemptions and the reason that I did support those is that we needed to balance the budget in the state of Colorado,” said Gagliardi at the event July 31. “And, in order to do that, and the research was done over the last three years looking at specific tax exemptions in our state where people were able to – and businesses were able to – not have to pay a tax, and so we changed it, and so I did support all of those. And I believe that was the right thing to do because we had to balance the budget.”

It reminds me a bit of our post from June, “Rep. Max Tyler’s verbal gymnastics on taxes.”

For a 2010 Legislative Report Card by the Jefferson County Business Lobby on Reps. Gagliardi, Tyler and other legislators, go here.

In my view, if a business or person has to pay more taxes than before, it qualifies as a tax increase.

So, the contest is open: send to whosaidyousaid@gmail.com the best euphemism for “tax increase” you’ve heard from a public official, in Colorado or elsewhere. Even better if the statement is on video.