Colorado Highway Robbery at the Gold Dome

The Denver Gazette Editorial Board is out with a sharp editorial arguing that Colorado’s ruling Democrats are trying to kneecap a citizen ballot initiative before voters even get a say. The piece focuses on House Bill 26-1430, which the editorial says would undercut Initiative 175, a proposal aimed at forcing transportation-related taxes and fees to actually fund roads, highways, and bridges. Imagine that. Road money for roads. Radical stuff.

According to the editorial, Initiative 175 would direct $700 million in existing transportation-related revenue toward Colorado’s roads, highways, and bridges. HB 1430, backed by Democratic lawmakers, would cut those same revenue sources by $700 million, which the Gazette argues would gut the initiative before it reaches voters. The editorial calls it a fake tax cut, a money grab, and an effort to keep both road improvements and TABOR refunds away from Coloradans.

I really have nothing to add other than: hell yes. The Gazette Editorial Board is starting to sound like me, which either means they are waking up or I should start charging rent. I have written plenty of pieces just like this (Here, here, here, and here). Colorado’s Gold Dome elitist ruling Democrats have bought their own nonsense at full retail, and normie Coloradans are the ones getting stuck with the receipt.

The Bullet Point Brief

• Initiative 175 would force $700 million in transportation-related revenue to be used on roads, highways, and bridges. In other words, spend transportation money on transportation. The horror.
• HB 26-1430 would cut the same gas taxes and vehicle fees by that $700 million amount, which the Gazette says would effectively sabotage the ballot initiative before voters can approve it.
• The bill is sponsored by Democratic Reps. Andrew Boesenecker and Emily Sirota, and Democratic Sens. William Lindstedt and Judy Amabile. The Golden Dome never lacks volunteers when the job is protecting government from the voters.
• The Gazette argues this is not a real tax cut, but a maneuver to keep roads underfunded while also allowing lawmakers to hang onto TABOR surplus dollars that otherwise would go back to taxpayers.
• The editorial notes Colorado’s highways have dropped in national rankings under Gov. Jared Polis, with especially poor rural and urban interstate pavement conditions. But do not worry, I am sure another bike-lane ribbon cutting will fix I-25.

My Bottom Line

The Gazette nailed it. This is highway robbery with committee assignments.

Colorado voters are not stupid. They know the roads are a mess. They know their commute is worse. They know the potholes are multiplying like rabbits with a government grant. They also know that whenever they pay another tax or fee supposedly tied to transportation, somehow the money develops legs, wanders off, and comes back wearing a climate badge, a transit slogan, or a consultant invoice.

That is why Initiative 175 exists. It is not complicated. It says transportation money should go to transportation. Roads. Highways. Bridges. The stuff people actually use to get to work, haul kids to school, move freight, visit family, and live normal lives outside the policy fantasies of Denver progressives who think every Coloradan secretly wants to commute by interpretive dance and light rail.

But the ruling Democrats under the Gold Dome cannot help themselves. They have bought their own bullshit, and they keep charging the tab to ordinary Coloradans. They do not like TABOR. They do not like voter restraint. They do not like being told no. And they really do not like the idea that the Great Suburban Normie might wake up from an altitude-induced slumber and notice the scam.

That is the only way this stops. The suburban normies, the working families, the small-business owners, the parents stuck in traffic, the people dodging potholes on roads they already paid for, they have to start holding these Democrats accountable. Not with hashtags. Not with polite grumbling over coffee. With ballots. With phone calls. With pressure. With a firm reminder that Colorado does not belong to the enlightened philosopher kings under the Golden Dome. It belongs to the people they keep trying to fleece.

Source: The Denver Gazette