Colorado Lawmakers Reach Bipartisan Property Tax Deal

Today we took an important step for Colorado to end the property tax wars. With this bipartisan effort, we are saving hardworking Coloradans money on property taxes, saving households money on utility bills, making our small businesses more competitive, and protecting funding for… pic.twitter.com/G3ZC674ILa

— Governor Jared Polis (@GovofCO) August 29, 2024

Colorado lawmakers passed a property tax deal on Thursday to provide small cuts to homeowners and some businesses while limiting future property tax growth. The move aims to prevent two potentially damaging measures from appearing on the November ballot. The agreement was reached during a four-day special session and passed with bipartisan support.

"The tax breaks are "expected to increase economic disparities by race, ethnicity, disability status, and socioeconomic status in the short term," the report states."https://t.co/BVSDbfyllU

— Ean Thomas Tafoya (@EanThomasTafoya) August 27, 2024

Governor Jared Polis is expected to sign the bill, resulting in an estimated $255 million reduction in property taxes owed in 2026. This deal is intended to avert a $2.4 billion tax cut proposed by Initiative 108 from going before voters. As part of the agreement, the measures’ proponents, Advance Colorado and Colorado Concern, have agreed to withdraw Initiative 50, which proposed a restrictive 4% cap on future property tax revenue growth that could have led to continuous tax rate cuts, especially affecting rural areas.

🚨THIS STORY IS INSANE: How secret donors are forcing states to take cash from schools & other public programs & give it to those donors — who won’t reveal their identities

Legislators are negotiating with right-wing operatives paid by anonymous oligarchs https://t.co/vcvPVfqCCP

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) August 29, 2024

Governor Polis has indicated he will not sign House Bill 1001 until Initiatives 50 and 108 are officially removed from the ballot. This removal requires a formal submission to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office by September 6. A broad coalition of groups, spanning the political spectrum, agreed that the potential damage of these measures was too great to ignore, despite differing opinions on the need for more tax cuts.

Bipartisan property tax agreement reached

State Rep.

We've got wolves!!!! An amendment to HCR24B-1001 (the concurrent resolution) would give local citizens the right to vote on the introduction of a predatory species, including wolves. See the blog for the explanation. https://t.co/V05DbhHScu @colo_politics

— Marianne Goodland 📰 (@MGoodland) August 27, 2024

Kyle Brown, a Louisville Democrat, expressed his reluctant support for the bill, emphasizing the responsibility to mitigate the significant consequences of the ballot measures.

The deal was brokered among a small group of Democratic and Republican legislators, the governor’s office, and Michael Fields, leader of Advance Colorado. Progressive Democrats’ attempts to introduce amendments were largely unsuccessful, with moderate Democrats joining Republicans to block proposals that might jeopardize the agreement. House Bill 1001 builds on the property tax reforms established in Senate Bill 233, passed earlier in the regular legislative session.

The new deal further adjusts these provisions, slightly lowering the residential assessment rate and extending commercial tax cuts to more business types, excluding oil and gas which will continue to be taxed at a higher rate. The legislation will also impose new caps on local government and school district revenues. For homeowners, the tax cuts will vary based on the value of their property and local tax rates.

Local services are anticipated to lose $255 million in revenue in the first year of implementation, with further losses expected in subsequent years, impacting government budgets. Despite these concerns, the assembly pushed through the legislation, preferring to take a proactive stance against the ballot measures’ potential financial disruptions.