The jig is up. The Colorado version of Democrats’ Washington Monument Syndrome – our transportation funding – is about to be blown to pieces. The Independence Institute’s transportation funding initiative, Fix Our Damn Roads, has qualified for the ballot.
This initiative proposes funding transportation infrastructure (read: roads) without raising taxes and fees by requiring the government to issue up to $3.5 billion in Transportation Revenue Anticipation Notes (TRANs), or government bonds issued specifically for transportation.
II chief Jon Caldara offered this quote:
“For too long the state has held our roads and bridges hostage while increasing spending on other priorities like Medicaid expansion, hoping we taxpayers get so frustrated by traffic we’ll agree to a tax increase. Well, this fall voters will have a choice. As the Denver Chamber of Commerce pimps a 21% state sales tax increase for transit, roads and a slush fund for cities, there will be an alternative as our Fix Our Damn Roads initiative will also be on the ballot. It will force the state to use its large surplus funds and re-prioritize less than 2 percent of the state budget to roads.”
While most ballot initiatives are special interest boondoggles or consultant cash cows, this is something worth supporting.