DENVER — Colorado legislators plan to introduce a bill that will increase the state fee on rental cars by $2 to $3 per day to help pay for proposed passenger rail service along the Front Range and to Craig, Colo., the Colorado Sun reports.
The fee would generate as much as $50 million annually, which the state would use for matching funds for federal grant programs — specifically targeting the $60 billion for rail projects in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
“I really want to make sure Colorado gets some of that money,” state Senate President Steve Fenberg (D-Boulder) told the Sun. “I don’t want it all to go to the Northeast. I don’t want it all to go to California. I want to make sure that Colorado gets its fair share.”
Fenberg was among the passengers on a March 7 inspection train arranged by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis over part of the proposed Front Range route, which seeks to develop passenger service between Pueblo and Fort Collins, Colo. [see “Colorado officials ride inspection train …,” Trains News Wire, March 7, 2024]. The state said last year it would study Denver-Steamboat Springs-Craig service, a 191-mile route that last saw daily operation in 1968 [see “Colorado to fund study …,” News Wire, Oct. 24, 2023].
The state already charges a $2.13 daily fee on rental cars; the proposed bill would increase that to $4.13 for electric vehicles and $5.14 for gas-powered vehicles as of January 2025.
The fee is likely to be the most politically acceptable method of funding because it does not require voter approval for a tax increase and will mostly place the financial burden on out-of-state visitors rather than Colorado voters. Many states impose rental-car and hotel taxes for similar reasons.
I am a Colorado resident. Agreed we rip of the tourists/skiers/hunters to fund a rail system. The big problem is when you get to the destination. Only Denver has a “semi-decent” transit system.
There is zip in Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Ft. Collins, and Loveland. The front range are new cities, it is not like Chicago, NYC. No one will ride the trains because when you get to the destination there is no way to get around, unless you rent a car and guess what now you pay the “fees” like the tourists.
The Democrats of the Denver area and Boulder county have the population (votes) and basically run the entire state and continue to tax/regulate for the pet projects.
That’s the whole point of tourism make money off the visitors however you can everybody does it so what!!
Whatever happened to the concept of “Taxation without representation is tyranny”????
So Colorado taxes out of staters. Other states tax their out of staters. What it comes down to is a tax on all no matter the immediate location. And what’s wrong with user fees like the ones they stick to toll road users?
That’s absurd. Most of the rental car business in CO is for people visiting the state from elsewhere.
Where do ya’ll propose this money come from? Once again, the comments here are all anti-tax complainers.
No airline ticket covers the full cost of the system required to run it (ATC and airports which are publicly owned). If they did, the cost would be absurd and no one would travel. You guys KNOW this, but you whine about it constantly anyway.
Hey Mike, I’m not against subsidized trains. I ride them myself. All I want is transparency, full disclosure. Add up the capital plus operating subsidies from all the various sources and put that number on the table.
That’s not whining, to use your term. It’s a call for good government.
You’re absolutely right, Mike. The airlines should be ponying up for ATC and TSA. It’s their system. AND if the airlines ran them, they would be FAR more efficient and modern. we would actually get a modern, up-to-date, advanced ATC system unlike the one we’ve had for 50+ years. AND TSA woul certainly be more effective, efficient, and far less costly. Why? B/c it would have to be.
Every since cities decided to put a tax on motel and hotel rooms it has become a rip off of people that are tourists. If they really want to have a rail service that Colorado people will use, put the tax on tickets for people riding it. That will tell you right quick the value, or any value of the service. And be sure to tell the truth what a ticket will cost before building to it instead of ripping off others..
So, folks, that’s what the so-called NATIONAL passenger system we were promised in 1970 has come down to: Colorado’s share being funded by robbing out-of-staters visiting.
How about this: A clear and unequivocable, transparent statement as to how much the train ride costs over and above what the passenger pays. Operating plus capital.
Oh, and BTW, the Colorado politicos inadvertently, mistakenly, letting the cat out the bag as to how irrelevant their train will be in the big scheme of people moving about. How many rental cars driving how many miles to pay for how few train passengers riding how few miles.
In fact a large part of the rental car business is for locals who may need a rental while their cars is repaired or for other reasons. When you travel look at your hotel bills and see how much non-voting visitors are being gouged for taxes.