I predicted this.

I wrote over Christmas, in a commentary published last weekend, that the Democrats would pass a carbon fee-tax – which is basically what their proposed gas fee-tax is.  Hell, maybe it’s my fault. 

The news report in Colorado Politics points out that the gas tax hasn’t gone up since 1992.  That’s true.

It’s also true that the General Assembly passed a car tax in 2009 to raise money for roads and bridges and that the General Assembly chose to divert general tax dollars that would have gone into roads over to health-care expenditures instead.  An amount estimated to equal $5 billion would have been spent on roads in the 10 fiscal years from 2009 to 2018, but for the passage of SB09-228.

The people of Colorado know this, and that’s why they have refused, time and again, to vote for a tax increase for highways when asked.  Further, they just voted by 52.5% to limit fees charged by the state government to no more than $20 million a year without their approval.

I guess the General Assembly has decided not to offer that option to the people again.

Passing a bill like this would show absolute contempt for the voters of Colorado.  We’ll see if my other prediction-warning comes true.

Don’t get me wrong, if this proposed gas “fee” is used only for improving and maintaining roads in Colorado then it truly would be a user fee and not a tax.  Maybe they should attach a Tesla tax to the bill to make sure that the Teslaites are paying for the roads they use also. 

Greg Brophy

Wray

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