Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has hit on one of the state’s pressing needs – highway and street improvements – but missed on the solution, which for him means higher taxes. In fact, the state’s coffers are bulging with record tax revenues and the last thing our economy needs now is a tax increase.

In his last annual address as governor to a joint session of the Colorado House and Senate, Hickenlooper called for asking voters for a tax increase. He alluded to the fact that the state has not raised the gasoline tax, which is 22 cents per gallon, since just before the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, requiring voter approval of state increases, kicked in 25 years ago.

“We’ve been driving on a flat tire for about a quarter of a century,” Hickenlooper told legislators. His statement, in effect, suggested that the state’s last fuel tax hike didn’t really help all that much. If not then, why would raising it again help now?

Read more at The Pueblo Chieftain.