Free Republic

As Colorado lawmakers debate over how to confront rapidly increasing housing costs, more than a dozen city and town councils on the Western Slope have voted to support allowing local taxes on vacant homes and short-term rentals. The concepts, pitched by the Colorado Association of Ski Towns, or CAST, would have to be passed by the Colorado legislature and approved by local voters before they could take effect anywhere. “The lack of available and attainable housing for employees in Colorado mountain resort communities has reached a crisis level,” CAST wrote in the legislative policy statement approved by the towns. “The...