January 7, 2008

Ritter Transportation Panel Calls for More Taxes

Another panel commissioned by Gov. Bill Ritter, another set of recommended tax increases:
Governor Bill Ritter's 32-member blue-ribbon panel is recommending a $100 average increase in vehicle registration fees as part of its $1.5 billion plan to pay for much-needed transportation infrastructure maintenance and improvements.The road funding proposals include:
  • Increase vehicle registration fees by $100 on average.
  • Raise gas tax by 13 cents a gallon.
  • Icrease [sic] the fee on hotel rooms and car rentals to $6 a day.
  • Increasing the state sales tax by 0.35 percent.
  • Increase severance tax by 1.7 percent.
This is starting to sound like a tired theme. I don't know about your middle-class family, but all these proposals alone would take a significant chunk out of my household budget. Is this what Coloradans voted for when they elected Ritter to be governor in 2006?

Cross posted at Colorado Union of Taxpayers

1 comment:

Civil Sense said...

As our automobile registration fees are obscene, I highly doubt there will be traction to that portion of the proposal. Unless Mr. Ritter and his colleagues manage to scrap TABOR, the voters will defeat that proposal. The sales and gas tax increases could be larger hits on the family budget in aggregate, but since they are relatively small rates, the average person may vote for it.

The hotel and severance taxes will be more for nonresidents and corporations, so the voter will (incorrectly) rationalize that "this tax is not on me, it's on THEM."

For me, I will not vote for any tax increase unless it is justified and SPECIFICALLY EARMARKED for the justified reason. Anything less than that, I say nay.