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March 16, 2010 01:39 AM UTC

Prop 101: Time to hit the road

  • 23 Comments
  • by: Bowman for Senate

(Well Written and interesting (plus it was written by a candidate) – promoted by Danny the Red (hair))

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. If Proposition 101 is approved, that road may be the only bit of pavement left in Colorado that doesn’t need repair.

In a nutshell, Prop. 101 seeks to cut vehicle ownership fees to $1/used cars and $2/ new cars, set vehicle registration fees at a flat $10, cut vehicle sales tax, incrementally decrease state income taxes to 3.5 percent and, other than 911 fees, eradicate all taxes and fees on phone, satellite, and Internet services.

The stated rational for this sweeping proposal is two-fold: limiting powers of government, and ceasing excessive collection of dollars that government allegedly does not need.

There are so many flaws in the simplistic application of these two arguments that it is difficult to know where to start, but let’s look first at limited power of government. No red-blooded American favors too much government, but even the Founding Fathers acknowledged that government has certain responsibilities, simple basics such as public safety and facilitation of a functioning society.

Maintaining a sound infrastructure of roads and bridges certainly fits those criteria.  

Yet right now, the Colorado Department of Transportation reports that more than one fifth of Colorado’s highway lane miles have exceeded their engineered life span. A total of 128 bridges are classified as structurally deficient, and there is no money to fix them.

CDOT projects a decline of anticipated revenues in 2011 of roughly $500 million – that’s without Prop. 101. There was a similar drop in estimated revenues in the previous budget year that was alleviated by a one-time shot in the arm from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

In the CDOT Strategic Plan released in November, officials said that, while state roads “may appear to be in reasonably good condition (but) continuing underinvestment will take its toll.

Based upon current anticipated revenues, in just seven years our engineers estimate that there will be double the (amount) of bridge deck in poor condition, 65 percent of pavement in poor condition, (and) a D grade for maintenance, down from a B-…The difficult reality is that without additional resources Coloradans should expect the condition of many components of their transportation system to deteriorate, even as CDOT strives to improve its organizational performance.”

Okay, so facts and figures are admittedly not all that sexy for most of us, but here are a few more numbers that just cannot be ignored: Our current gasoline tax of 22 cents has not changed since 1991, when the price of a gallon of regular unleaded in Colorado ranged from $1.14 to $1.35.

If that 1991 rate had been set as an adjustable percentage of the price, the current tax would be somewhere between 40 cents and 49 cents. Now, that would be a serious burden on the consumer, so let’s just look at our 22 cents in relation to other states. Utah’s gasoline tax is 24.5 cents, Kansas collects 25 cents, and Nebraskans pay 27.3 cents.

What’s more, the national average is 28.9 cents and, as of a year ago, Colorado ranked 21st in the United States. Further, our combined local/state tax burden in Colorado ranks 46th nationally. So if you want to hamstring government from its due responsibilities with the argument that we are overtaxed, that dog just won’t hunt.

Proponents of Prop. 101 also argue that we just don’t need the money. The estimated $500 million that would be lost with this initiative is currently divided as follows: 65 percent for state highways, 26 percent for county roads, and 9 percent to municipalities. Tell local community leaders they don’t need those dollars.

But Prop. 101 supporters say the money is unnecessary because the federal economic stimulus plan supports infrastructure. They are forgetting, however, that the stimulus fund is not a bottomless cookie jar. As the CDOT report notes, ARRA money was a one-time infusion. These are also many of the same people who quick to decry the national debt – but they want Coloradans to rely on federal give-aways? And where do they think that money comes from?

Finally, here are a few more numbers it would be foolish to ignore. The non-partisan Bell Policy Institute estimates that passage of Prop. 101 would result in a loss of more than $1.9 billion in state revenues. That’s capital construction money for schools, State Patrol and other law enforcement programs, and a host of other services which government, by its very nature, is obligated to provide.

The figures also include a $732 million hit to local governments. What does that mean for rural Colorado? Consider, as an example, the city of Yuma, where this year’s general fund budget received $10,000 from vehicle registration fees, $44,000 from vehicle licensing fees, and $102,000 in State Highway User funds. The latter comes from gasoline sales tax, so that would remain constant except for inevitable impacts of a changing retail market and, of course, the effect of inflation on spending power.

More directly, Proposition 101 would effectively slash license and registration income by about $50,000, a cut to Yuma’s general fund of nearly seven percent. How many rural Colorado governments can easily absorb that hit?

Responsible leadership demands a decisive stand on such a dangerous initiative. Politicians who have failed to get off the fence on this issue – such as Greg Brophy, who currently represents Yuma as well as the rest of Senate District 1 – seem to not be interested enough to do the research, or perhaps are too concerned with the direction of political winds.

Meanwhile, tunnel-vision fringe groups are proposing legislation that would take Colorado down a very wrong road, in a hand basket.  

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23 thoughts on “Prop 101: Time to hit the road”

  3. …the right direction, but too far for a cold-turkey cut.  Jolts to the system–in either direction–almost always have a backlash that’s twice as bad.

    The funding for transportation needs to be maintained.  My favored method (and I would think for any serious environmentalist as well) would probably be to significantly reduce or do away with the registration and license fees, along with vehicle sales taxes, and bump the gasoline tax.  The author of this diary notes that Colorado is something like 7 cents/gallon below the national AVERAGE, but doesn’t note that we’re well above the MEDIAN.  But either way, it is better to discourage unnecessary use of a car (and in the opinion of most people on COPols, though not myself, the emission of environmentally harmful fuel) than to discourage the purchase of cars in the first place.  Automobiles are not only a significant portion of our economy (which employs a lot of people), but they are also perhaps the single most important tool in terms of efficiency that any person could have.

    The budget could do with a LOT of cuts.  But to look at CDOT first is a huge, HUGE mistake.

    1. in a lake with a median depth of six inches.  Unless we deal with the problems before us in the context of “the whole” we’re just swatting at flies.    When you combine our status as “21st” on gas taxes with “46th” in total state/local tax burden most of us would come to the conclusion we have a revenue problem, not a spending problem [which is always dealt with through our balanced budget requirement.  If low taxes overall produces a businessman’s paradise and stimulated business activity – our state coffers should be overflowing.  I’m not for big government or small government. I’m for “sufficient” government.  And I think we all understand the importance of proper maintenance of existing investments [roads, schools, etc.]  Financial prudence would be to have enough money to “maintain”; to not be “penny wise and pound foolsih” by deferring these obligations.  It would be cheaper for me to not change the oil in my car, an investment I’ve chosen to make, but the result of that decision would be disasterous.   Prudence, on behalf of growing our state’s business environment, would include the cornerstone of a sound, properly financed education system.  101, 60 and 61 are the wrong solutions.

    2. So we should tell everyone on the Western slope who may not have bicycle worthy roads to just suck it up? We need to majorly increase the funding to our infrastructure. Because of our weather (we are prone to crumbling roads because of how quickly we freeze and then warm up here), rural and urban communities (it’s easy for us to take the RTD from Boulder to D-town but what do you tell the people who go from GJ to Rifle?) we can’t just gamble our roads on gas tax.

      Also how do you think a gas tax will pass with TABOR loving idiots running amok?

      We need to wake the hell up in this state. Next year if we don’t get funding, Higher ed funding will go to zero. ZERO!! If you want a quality state then you need quality dollars. Sorry but that means revenue. Get rid of TABOR and the rest will follow.  

    3. Don’t worry. The groups like the Independence Institute and their right-wing funders have made this part of a package like in 2008. Rather than three anti-union measures (47, 49 and 54), they are pushing three anti-government measures.

      If passed, Proposition 101, Amendment 60 and Amendment 61 would serve as the anti-tax triumvirate that killed Colorado’s K-12, higher education, transportation, public safety, etc.

  5. … if this proposition passes, I wish there were a way to target them on the author and voters for this piece of garbage. Shame on them.  

    1. Even when they get smacked, they’ll still have the breath to scream “It’s all because you Dhimocrats are taxing us too much!!!  Mogadishu, our paradise!”

      1. they will still complain that they can’t sue for adequate damages to their families or vehicles from the falling bridge debris.

        conservatism is a downward spiral.

        1. It’s old, but it is a doozy

          “Crushed by My Own Reform”

          By Frank Cornelius

          New York Times, October 7, 1994

          About the Author: Frank Cornelius was a former lobbyist whose clients included the Insurance Institute of Indiana. He passed away in 1995.

          In 1975, I helped persuade the Indiana Legislature to pass what was acclaimed as a pioneering reform of the medical malpractice laws: a $500,000 cap on damage awards, and elimination of all damages for pain and suffering. I argued successfully that such limits would reduce health care costs and encourage physicians to stay in Indiana-the same sort of arguments that now underpin the medical industry’s call for national malpractice reform.

          Today, from my wheelchair, I rue that accomplishment. Here is my story.

          http://www.coalitionforpatient…

  6. next time a few links or cites would be great.

    Example- the fuel tax inf. The overal tax burden rank.

    Also- does CDOT publish a list of bridges graded “structurally deficient”?

    Seriously, if I could drive around them instead of under or over them, I would.

    How about legislation requiring CDOT to post the grade or condition on every bridge they grade (which I hope is all of them)?

    1. I’ll make sure future postings have as many user-friendly links as possible.  This story developed the old-fashioned way, starting with the information found on various websites [starting with Ballotpedia], followed up with exhaustive phone calls and personal conversations.  If you go to CDOT’s website and click through to their “Fact Books” link you’ll find information back to 2004.  We used 2009 info for this story.  The DOE website gave us the 1991 fuel costs.   The Colorado Leg Council Staff are a great resource as well as the information that can be mined at the local and state treasurers offices.  Good, solid information is available in a lot of places if one takes the time to find it.

      1. I’ve been hacking around the CDOT site all morning- no scorecard for individual bridges.

        So how abuot it – could you get behind a public disclosure of all the bridges scored “structuraly deficient”? Perhaps also mark the bridge and whatever is under it?

    1. I tried to pare this down by 1/3 but found it hard to convey the potential damage to the rural communities in eastern Colorado without first laying solid ground work.  I know society as a whole has a severe case of ADD and prefers soundbites – but in this case the ADD version wasn’t the most appropriate.  I’ll leave the soundbites to the Post and the Independence Institute.  

      1. Sad part is that you may actually have to explain this to people.  

        Some things are self evident.

        I read through the second paragraph, all I really needed.

  8. Imagine a country where no one had to pay taxes or fees, could do whatever they wanted on their personal property, accumulating wealth un-interupted by government and regulation.  Visualize living in Haiti.

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