With record high increases to the cost of living already before inflation, the government pushes it higher still.

In January, #Denver will start charging FEES for trash pickup in addition to the taxes that have always paid for it. The price of eggs just more than doubled due to new #Colorado regulations. Denver and other localities charge government fees for shipping bags to shop at brick and mortar stores, and the state charges fees to the citizen for every delivery from Amazon or anywhere else. Some homes that burnt down last year north of Denver can't be rebuilt due to regulations that make houses cost way more to rebuild because of regulatory requirements, more than insurance policies cover.

I wonder how much of the cost of living increase that has made Colorado unaffordable for the next generation is directly relatable to these Nickle and Diming policies that continue to take more and more of the people's earnings to disappear into the budget.

Some cost of living is certainly because we have amazing geography and limited space. But when it feels like a new policy to take money from my family is implemented every day, it makes me wonder if most of this cost is unnecessary and the financial strain is directly tied back to politicians messing up our state rather than our state drawing a crowd for being awesome.

(For those outside of Colorado, these are all "fees" because if they call them a tax they have to be voter approved. When they want more of our money and they know the citizens don't want it, they can just call it a fee and no consent is necessary.)