At least one member of City Council wants an expensive new phone service so city bureaucrats can look things up, sparing consumers the bother of searching the internet. We know, it sounds like a joke. It is not. He is serious.

Colorado Springs has seemingly limitless needs that must be paid for by taxpayers with limited resources. Each time someone taps taxpayers for more, households have that much less economic freedom and autonomy.

Taxpayers recently agreed to raise local taxes for roads. They must spend more than a half-billion dollars on stormwater infrastructure, and a lawsuit by the federal government that complains of inadequate stormwater control.

State lawmakers want a new tax for transportation, as they can continue hemorrhaging money on a Medicaid program that’s not well managed. Any moderate state sales tax increase would edge Colorado Springs close to the 10 percent paid in parts of California.

Read more at The Colorado Springs Gazette.