Highlands Ranch and a "northeast portion" of Douglas county pay the RTD sales tax. Most of the county is exempt. Conveniently, the sales tax applies in mostly residential areas, which are high in riders, but low in sales (unless they collect from Amway parties).
Here is an excerpt from an old editorial at http://denver.bcentral.com/denver/stories/1997/11/10/editorial1.html :
"Without Douglas County's inclusion in the RTD
district, massive retail operations such as
Park Meadows shopping center and the Castle
Rock factory stores remain exempt from RTD
tax collections.
Lack of participation by the retailers deprives RTD of millions of dollars for mass transit each year. But residents of Douglas County are free riders. They benefit from RTD's existing programs and any future new initiatives while their retailers remain outside the RTD taxing district."
Here are links you can use to check the boundaries of the RTD tax district.
http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/revenue_dir/TPS_dir/drp1002.html
http://www.rtd-denver.com/SystemMaps/index.html
http://www.douglas.co.us/DC/landusemap.htm
http://www.thedenverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,165%257E21587,00.html
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