A permanent 0.333% sales tax that would raise $295 million a year for a daily passenger train between Pueblo and Fort Collins goes before voters in 32 Colorado communities on the November ballot as Ballot Issue 7A.

The Front Range Passenger Rail District, the public body created to build and operate the service, needs a simple majority within its service area to approve the measure. It would also authorize the district to issue $580 million in debt, with a total repayment cost of $785 million.

The tax amounts to 3.3 cents on a $10 purchase, or 33 cents per $100. It would apply across the district's boundaries, which include Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Fort Collins, Boulder, Longmont, Lakewood, Arvada, Westminster, Littleton, Englewood, Trinidad and roughly two dozen other municipalities, along with the Sterling Ranch Colorado Metropolitan Districts Nos. 1-7.

Passenger service on the northern portion of the corridor is already funded and does not depend on the ballot outcome. The district plans to launch a train called the Colorado Connector, or CoCo, in 2029, running three daily round trips between Denver and Fort Collins with stops in Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville, Boulder, Longmont and Loveland.

Regional Transportation District and Colorado Department of Transportation funds will pay for that starter service. It fulfills the long-promised FasTracks northwest corridor to Boulder and Longmont through a northern route that includes a track-sharing agreement with a freight railroad.

What the tax would buy

If Issue 7A passes, the district would use the revenue to extend the line south from Denver's Union Station, adding or upgrading stations in Littleton, Sterling Ranch in Douglas County, Colorado Springs and Pueblo. District officials say the southern extension would launch within five years of approval, with three daily trips from Union Station to Pueblo and a fourth daily trip added to the northern Fort Collins service. The line has capacity for up to 10 daily trips if demand grows.

Supporters frame the project as a reliable alternative to the increasingly congested Interstate 25 corridor, serving both drivers seeking to avoid traffic and residents who cannot or choose not to drive. Proponents project the service would equate to removing 29,000 vehicles from Front Range roads and improve regional air quality.

The district has also committed to returning a share of the revenue to local governments for infrastructure, affordable housing and other transportation projects. Plans include special event stops at the planned Denver Broncos and Summit FC stadium sites in Burnham Yard and near Broadway and I-25.

The case against

Opponents argue the tax will cost residents regardless of whether they ride the train and will hit lower-income households hardest, because those households spend a larger share of their paychecks on taxable goods.

Critics also contend voters are being asked to approve a permanent tax before knowing final construction costs, fares or timetables. They point to the funded 2029 starter service as a chance to test actual ridership — three daily Denver–Fort Collins trips can proceed without additional taxpayer money — before committing to a new revenue stream.

The measure also carries political baggage from earlier transportation initiatives. Opponents note that RTD's 2004 FasTracks tax measure remains partially unfulfilled, and the northwest rail link to Boulder and Longmont is only now being realized more than two decades later through the Front Range project.

On service design, critics argue a train cannot match the door-to-door access and schedule flexibility of cars, would duplicate existing bus and shuttle routes, and that investing the same money in roads, bus networks and airport access could deliver greater benefit at lower cost.

What happens next

The November vote will determine whether the district can finance the full 300-kilometre-scale Pueblo-to-Fort Collins vision or whether the corridor's passenger rail ambitions stop, for now, at the already-funded Denver–Fort Collins service launching in 2029.