Colorado’s House of Representatives has passed a bill that would ask voters to raise sales taxes from 2.9 percent to 3.52 percent. The money would fund road projects and other transportation solutions.
The bill, which now goes to the Senate, could generate an estimated $705 million a year, starting in 2018, according to the Denver Post.
However, many remain concerned about the plan.
“The majority seems to believe that a tax increase is the solution to every budget shortfall, that every new state project needs new tax money,” Rep. Dave Williams said, reported the Colorado Springs Gazette.
In Colorado Springs, which approved its own sales tax hike in 2015 for road projects, the total sales tax would be 8.87 percent, reported KKTV.
“When you get up close to 9 percent, it’s a real detriment,” Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers told the station. “People will say, ‘Well, I’ll go out into another community or something to buy things.’”
