Trump's Vaunted "Infrastructure Plan" Worth Squat To Colorado

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by: Colorado Pols

With attention turning to a forthcoming proposal from the Trump administration to “spur” decades-backlogged infrastructure spending across the nation–“spur” being the word ominously substituting for the words “pay for“–Coloradans hoping for help with our own state’s aging transportation and communications networks are not seeing much to get excited about. As CBS4 Denver reports:

The Trump Administration is expected to release its plan to fund new roads and bridges. Pres. Donald Trump says he wants to make a trillion dollar investment but it may leave Colorado short.

The state is already in the hole billions of dollars when it comes to transportation funding. If the draft of Mr. Trump’s infrastructure plan is any indication, that hole could get much deeper.

And why is that, you ask? The same reason Colorado can’t step up to the pump to pay for the huge investments needed right now:

The draft calls for half of federal infrastructure dollars to be doled out as competitive grants and only states willing to invest more money themselves would be eligible.

“If Colorado doesn’t pass increased revenue this year, Colorado won’t be able to compete,” said Ed Rendell, head of the bipartisan group Building America’s Future.

Trump’s infrastructure plan proposes federal investment of a mere $200 billion, a small fraction of the number Trump used on the campaign trail when boasting of his plans to comprehensively rebuild America’s roads and bridges. The remaining $800 billion of Trump’s “$1 trillion plan” would be ponied up by the state and local governments who would benefit from the improvements.

The short version: Colorado’s GOP-engineered revenue restrictions would leave the state unable to take advantage of the national Republican Party’s own infrastructure plan.

The principle Trump is operating on with this plan, that beneficiaries of infrastructure improvement should have some “skin in the game,” breaks down in the case of states like Colorado who don’t have the fiscal ability to keep up. Even with the perverse “unexpected” revenue boost from the federal tax bill for Colorado, the 1992 Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights prevents lawmakers from taking the action that would be needed to make the investment the Trump administration expects.

There are politically mitigating factors that could play in here, like Colorado Republicans embracing a ballot measure to meaningfully raise revenue in 2018. But for obvious reasons, we’re not holding our breath. The more likely scenario is the obvious contradiction is allowed to play out with no acknowledgement–let alone action to actually resolve it.

For Colorado, the whole business is just another lesson in why we can’t have nice things.

13 thoughts on “Trump’s Vaunted “Infrastructure Plan” Worth Squat To Colorado”

Davie says:

January 29, 2018 at 10:40 am

Trump's job description only says he needs to come up with the "Big Ideas". Figuring out the details and especially how to pay for it is up to the cash-strapped states with mandatory balanced budget constraints to figure that out.

The calculation will involve coming up with the number of nursing home residents times the number of pre-and post-natal care infants to be sacrificed per mile of toll roads built.

States Rights Forever! right Moldy? (unless a Federal law is needed to impose Christian Sharia law to keep librul wimenz in line)

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Voyageur says:

January 29, 2018 at 11:37 am

On the other hand, why should taxpayers in Connecticut, where my son lives, have to pay for projects in Colorado just because we grovel before politicians like bruce and caldara whose greed ensures we can't do anything for ourselves?

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Moderatus says:

January 29, 2018 at 11:47 am

TABOR doesn't stop lawmakers from raising revenue. It simply requires them to ask the voters.

You'll never convince Coloradans to give up their rights.

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1. Davie says:
  
  January 29, 2018 at 12:02 pm
  
  Yeah, and your Mecca — Kansas — will need to eliminate all government services (that still remain) in order to finance Trump's wonderful, fantabulous "Infrastructure" plan.
  
  The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it.”
  ― P.J. O'Rourke
  
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2. unnamed says:
  
  January 29, 2018 at 12:04 pm
  
  Stay the course nutlid. They'll thank you. By pointing out what a colossal moron you are.
  
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  1. RepealAndReplace says:
    
    January 29, 2018 at 12:09 pm
    
    And don't forget due process, Unnamed! (Except when it comes to You-Know-Who.)
    
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3. RepealAndReplace says:
  
  January 29, 2018 at 12:12 pm
  
  What's the matter, Nutlid? You don't trust Timmy Neville, Jerry Sonnenberg, Vickie Marbles, the Mustache, John Cooke, Kevin Grantham, and Ray Scott to have the final say on taxes? You still want to require voter approval in case one of them gets a wild hair up his/her ass and votes for a tax increase?
  
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  1. unnamed says:
    
    January 29, 2018 at 12:18 pm
    
    You forgot Kevin Lumberg
    
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    1. RepealAndReplace says:
      
      January 29, 2018 at 3:20 pm
      
      And how I have tried to over the year……..
      
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4. Voyageur says:
  
  January 29, 2018 at 12:20 pm
  
  Fluffy, you are either stupid, a liar, or both. TABOR specifically outlaws some taxes, such as a real estate transfer tax, no matter what the voters say.
  
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  1. unnamed says:
    
    January 29, 2018 at 12:26 pm
    
    I vote both. Though, he may be too stipid to know he's lying.
    
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    1. Diogenesdemar says:
      
      January 29, 2018 at 1:15 pm
      
      I thought it was he know’s he’s always lying, but he’s just too stupid to ever come up with any lie that’s ever believable????
      
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5. Phoenix Rising says:
  
  January 30, 2018 at 9:19 am
  
  TABOR makes our state too slow to take advantage of some matching funds. The funds are put out there for the next fiscal year and we can't pass a referendum quickly enough to fund the match. Given how incredibly efficient Congress has been on the 2018 budget, how much time do you think we'll have on 2019 opportunities?
  
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