El Paso County commissioners say ‘no’ to proposed sales tax hike

The El Paso County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution Tuesday, opposing a sales tax increase that would go toward transportation infrastructure fixes.

County sales tax affects everyday shoppers all across the United States, and there’s been a proposal to increase that tax to fix our highways and bridges. The sales tax would increase by a half-percent, meaning the tax percentage would go from 8.25 percent to 8.75 percent.

The Board of County Commissioners and Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers are strongly opposing the tax hike and believe this is not a funding problem, but a priority problem.

“This is a prioritization problem not a revenue problem,” Commissioner Stan VanderWerf said. “I want to continue to emphasize that, and hopefully, our state Legislature will take care of that issue sometime in the near future.”

Suthers added, “in a $20-some billion budget, they out to be able to find to 350 to 375 million it takes to fund a 20-year bonding stream of probably $3.5 billion to $4 billion for highways.”

In order to move forward with fixing the highways without taxing people more, a new coalition has been formed to accelerate transportation improvements on I-25 between Denver South and Colorado Springs. They will meet Wednesday.

Many people we spoke to were okay with the tax hike, if it meant improving state highways. However, after conducting a Facebook poll, the majority of those who voted were against the tax hike.

It’s not in the hand of legislators to decide whether this proposal will make it on the ballot, or if other avenues need to be taken to fix those state highways.