The Denver Post quoted me last week about Colorado SB 13-048, which Governor Hickenlooper recently signed:
The law, signed by Gov. John Hickenlooper on April 26, also bypasses constitutional restrictions on how the 22-cents-per- gallon fuel tax and vehicle-registration fees are supposed to be spent, said Brian T. Schwartz, a senior fellow at the Independence Institute, a free-market think tank that has criticized many mass transit projects for being wasteful.
“The constitution says … any fuel tax that is levied must be used for highway purposes, and it makes pretty clear what a highway is,” Schwartz said.
The law’s proponents say the spending qualifies as a road maintenance measure because it pays for ways to reduce traffic and thus the wear and tear on local highways.
Schwartz said by that logic, the fuel tax could then be used to subsidize people buying new computers and faster Internet connections.
“After all, it might result in more people working from home instead of using the highways,” Schwar
Read more: Colorado road money can now be used on transit projects – The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_23178632/colorado-road-money-can-now-be-used-transit#ixzz2T93Nf3Ia
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The law, signed by Gov. John Hickenlooper on April 26, also bypasses constitutional restrictions on how the 22-cents-per- gallon fuel tax and vehicle-registration fees are supposed to be spent, said Brian T. Schwartz, a senior fellow at the Independence Institute, a free-market think tank that has criticized many mass transit projects for being wasteful.
“The constitution says … any fuel tax that is levied must be used for highway purposes, and it makes pretty clear what a highway is,” Schwartz said.
The law’s proponents say the spending qualifies as a road maintenance measure because it pays for ways to reduce traffic and thus the wear and tear on local highways.
Schwartz said by that logic, the fuel tax could then be used to subsidize people buying new computers and faster Internet connections.
“After all, it might result in more people working from home instead of using the highways,” Schwartz said.
Colorado road money can now be used on transit projects – The Denver Post.
See also: SB 48: Colorado road taxes for local transit unjust and unconstitutional, Complete Colorado, March 27.
