Firestone, blocked to the west by Frederick's interstate claim, leapfrogged north, claiming land along the busy Colorado 119 interchange toward Longmont and Rocky Mountain National Park. With that acquisition came visions of new revenue sources, local jobs and a fundamentally different town. Sales taxes are lifeblood of Colorado communities This massing of a state population along one interstate is not unique to Colorado. A high-speed highway gives workers greater commuting range. Industries gain access to more workers.
Retailers get a closer source of traffic.
Eighty percent of Arizona lives in metro areas along the interstate route from Flagstaff to Tucson. Ninety percent of Nevada lives in the metro areas of Las Vegas, on the interstate from Los Angeles, or Reno, on the interstate from San Francisco. This pattern renders the West at once the least inhabited and most urbanized region of the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. What distinguishes Colorado from its Rocky Mountain neighbors is the way its tax system encourages towns to turn interstate travel into an extended shopping trip. Statewide, sales taxes account for 73 percent of all revenues collected by municipal governments.