7 ms·

- We need more growth! - What if we waive impact fees so new construction doesn't pay for its impact on transportation and other services? Wow look at all that

- We need more growth! - What if we waive impact fees so new construction doesn't pay for its impact on transportation and other services? Wow look at all that construction! - Oh no, we don't have enough money to pay for increases to transportation and police and fire and libraries and schools! - Try to pass increased property taxes on existing residents, who vote "No" because they always vote no on any tax increases.

tnel77 6y ago
This isn’t entirely true. In Colorado, we vote on all tax increases. In the short time I have been here Coloradoans have voted to increase taxes on themselves quite a few times for roads and schools. If you make a good argument, even conservatives will commonly vote to increase taxes since many see the value that comes from it. The issue is that many people, like myself, want a say. I don’t mind paying more in taxes if the money is used well and I feel like I actually had a say in the process.
- robohoe 6y ago
  Unlike in Illinois, where majority of tax increases get squandered.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  The issue is the taxes voted on aren’t enough to pay for the item being voted on. The pensions aren’t getting properly funded, and the amortized cost of the road and accompanying infrastructure isn’t being saved for with taxes collected today. Also, Colorado is expecting one of the biggest economic and population booms in America, so people’s incomes are going up and thinks are looking pretty good. Try the same in states with stagnant economies and job markets, and even schools won’t get the votes for tax increases. And the nuance of the statement, of course, is people won’t vote for tax increases for things that won’t benefit them. Roads benefit all car owners, so car owners don’t mind voting for roads. But taxes for public transportation won’t be voted in. And people will vote to increase taxes for their own school district. But not to help subsidize other cities’ schools.
- dfilppi 6y ago
  'If the money is used well' -- there's the problem. The money disappears and a new tax is on the ballot next year.
lumost 6y ago
Through my lifetime I've only heard about tax cuts, I find this mysterious as presumably the taxes must have once risen to now be cut. Why have we seemingly lost the ability to say that we need new taxes? In Boston we constantly complain about the state of our public transit system which has been in debt for decades. Being proximate to a train station has a 20-50% positive benefit to home prices. The transit system can't raise fairs as those punish lower income workers who most need it, and they are even prohibited from raising fairs at more than 2%/yr by state law. Why can't we tax the property owners (I am one) benefiting from proximity to the train stations? Why are we building stations with 100 year growth horizons if it means we only build 1 new station?
- danaris 6y ago
  > Why have we seemingly lost the ability to say that we need new taxes? Decades of Republican propaganda have led the average right-of-center voter to believe that higher taxes, for any reason, are a) stealing their hard-earned money, and/or b) a socialist plot to turn America into either the USSR or Venezuela.
  - dbrueck 6y ago
    I believe that is definitely part of it, but it's also a lifetime of hearing about government waste, bills passed with tons of "pork" spending, witnessing government mismanagement of resources, and concern that the government is not necessarily the best way to solve every problem. And then once you decide that a particular issue is best addressed by the government, there's a valid debate over which level of government (e.g. in the U.S. stuff done at the federal level often has a reputation for being bloated, slow-moving, and less effective than it could be).
  - slowhand09 6y ago
    Decades of Democratic propaganda have led the average left-of-center voter to believe higher taxes, for any reason are a) taking money from greedy Republicans to redistribute wealth, and/or b) going to turn America into a socialist state. See how that works.
- 6y ago
melenaboija 6y ago
- And what if we cut taxes to the big players? At the end they are the ones giving jobs to people and someone needs to keep paying the taxes for the streets and schools they are using

tnel77 6y ago

This isn’t entirely true. In Colorado, we vote on all tax increases. In the short time I have been here Coloradoans have voted to increase taxes on themselves quite a few times for roads and schools. If you make a good argument, even conservatives will commonly vote to increase taxes since many see the value that comes from it. The issue is that many people, like myself, want a say. I don’t mind paying more in taxes if the money is used well and I feel like I actually had a say in the process.

robohoe 6y ago
Unlike in Illinois, where majority of tax increases get squandered.
lotsofpulp 6y ago
The issue is the taxes voted on aren’t enough to pay for the item being voted on. The pensions aren’t getting properly funded, and the amortized cost of the road and accompanying infrastructure isn’t being saved for with taxes collected today. Also, Colorado is expecting one of the biggest economic and population booms in America, so people’s incomes are going up and thinks are looking pretty good. Try the same in states with stagnant economies and job markets, and even schools won’t get the votes for tax increases. And the nuance of the statement, of course, is people won’t vote for tax increases for things that won’t benefit them. Roads benefit all car owners, so car owners don’t mind voting for roads. But taxes for public transportation won’t be voted in. And people will vote to increase taxes for their own school district. But not to help subsidize other cities’ schools.
dfilppi 6y ago
'If the money is used well' -- there's the problem. The money disappears and a new tax is on the ballot next year.

lumost 6y ago

Through my lifetime I've only heard about tax cuts, I find this mysterious as presumably the taxes must have once risen to now be cut. Why have we seemingly lost the ability to say that we need new taxes? In Boston we constantly complain about the state of our public transit system which has been in debt for decades. Being proximate to a train station has a 20-50% positive benefit to home prices. The transit system can't raise fairs as those punish lower income workers who most need it, and they are even prohibited from raising fairs at more than 2%/yr by state law. Why can't we tax the property owners (I am one) benefiting from proximity to the train stations? Why are we building stations with 100 year growth horizons if it means we only build 1 new station?

danaris 6y ago
> Why have we seemingly lost the ability to say that we need new taxes? Decades of Republican propaganda have led the average right-of-center voter to believe that higher taxes, for any reason, are a) stealing their hard-earned money, and/or b) a socialist plot to turn America into either the USSR or Venezuela.
- dbrueck 6y ago
  I believe that is definitely part of it, but it's also a lifetime of hearing about government waste, bills passed with tons of "pork" spending, witnessing government mismanagement of resources, and concern that the government is not necessarily the best way to solve every problem. And then once you decide that a particular issue is best addressed by the government, there's a valid debate over which level of government (e.g. in the U.S. stuff done at the federal level often has a reputation for being bloated, slow-moving, and less effective than it could be).
- slowhand09 6y ago
  Decades of Democratic propaganda have led the average left-of-center voter to believe higher taxes, for any reason are a) taking money from greedy Republicans to redistribute wealth, and/or b) going to turn America into a socialist state. See how that works.
6y ago

melenaboija 6y ago

- And what if we cut taxes to the big players? At the end they are the ones giving jobs to people and someone needs to keep paying the taxes for the streets and schools they are using