From the 2015-2016 to the 2021-2022 sessions of the Colorado General Assembly
From the 2021-2022 Session
Won Extension of Sales and Use Tax Rule
HB22-1027 extends until October 1, 2022, the time for small retailers to begin using the sales-and-use-tax destination-sourcing rules. The rules were initially established by the Colorado Department of Revenue in reaction to the US Supreme Court’s South Dakota v. Wayfair decision, which stipulated businesses collect sales taxes at the point of delivery rather than the point of sale. This extension will allow small businesses to make the necessary preparations to implement available software-enabling compliance.
Secured Workaround on SALT Deductions
SB 22-124 would give businesses that choose to do so a workaround the federal cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions. As of Jan. 1, 2022, the Colorado Act allows a pass-through entity to elect to be taxed at the entity level, which permits business income to be taxed to the entity itself rather than to individual owners. Prior to SB 22-124, this option was only available to C-Corps.
Obtained Property Tax Relief
SB 22-238 would temporarily reduce residential and commercial property tax assessment rates, providing $700 million in savings over two years for Colorado homeowners and businesses. Property values across the state are rapidly rising. Because voters repealed the Gallagher Amendment in 2020 assessment rates are no longer constrained.
Helped Win Higher Exemption in the Business Personal Property Tax
A major win for Colorado’s small business owners subjected to filing Business Personal Property Tax was the passage of HB 21-1312, which raises the current exemption from $7,900. To $50,000. for tax years 2021 and 2022. Beginning with the property tax year January 1, 2023, the amount of the exemption is readjusted biennially to account for inflation since the amount of inflation.
Stopped Hostile Work Environment Bill
SB 21-176, the so-called Protecting Opportunities and Workers Rights bill, would have defined a hostile work environment as anything that undermines a person’s sense of well-being. The measure also called for doing away with having to prove the behavior is ‘pervasive or severe’ in the workplace. A single instance can be enough for a charge to be brought based upon ‘hurt feelings.
From the 2019-2020 Session
Stopped Paid Family Leave Mandate
NFIB Colorado and its coalition partners blocked efforts to impose a one-size-fits-all law on small businesses by requiring them, regardless of employee size, to provide up to 12 weeks paid leave to employees. It would have included employers who already offer the benefit. As a result of coalition efforts, the bill was amended to a study to be addressed during the summer interim.
Won Law on Juvenile Enterprises
NFIB helped lead the efforts to prohibit local governments from requiring business licenses from children operating lemon aid stands or similar type enterprises during a limited number of days and as long as they did not interfere with other local businesses. The bill was brought as a result of two young children being cited by local police for operating a lemon aid stand in front of their house.
Secured Tax-Simplification Law
NFIB and its coalition partners successfully pushed for passage of Senate Bill 19-006, which requires the Office of Information Technology to conduct a sourcing method for the development of an electronic sales and use tax simplification system and include the input of stakeholders regarding the scope of work. The bill also requires the Department of Revenue to establish the implementation of the system. This legislation will lead to the simplification of Colorado’s complicated sales and use tax collection and remittance process.
From the 2017-2018 session
Won Sales Tax Simplification
House Bill 18-1022 requires the Department of Revenue to issue requests for information (RFI) for electronic sales and use tax simplification systems that state and local governments could choose to use for administrative simplification. Having more than 740 taxing authorities in Colorado puts the state in the top five most complicated for collection and remittance processes in the United States. The RFI requests information regarding a single point of collection for sales and use tax and adoption of uniform definitions of what is taxed. HB 1022 passed both Houses with only one No vote.
Secured Continuation of the Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) Requirement
House Bill 18-1237 requires a CBA be completed by the Department of Regulatory Agencies at the request of any person when a proposed regulation might have a financial impact on business. Also requires an annual report of the number of CBAs requested and performed. A CBA assures any regulation implantation is both efficient and cost-effective.
Stopped Premium Increases on Health Insurance
A Senate committee killed House Bill 1392, which would have used a reinsurance pool to stabilize a health insurance market that some believe is a detriment to those in rural Colorado. It is not an unknown fact that health insurance rates are higher in rural parts of the state. This is due to the use of geographical rating used in the determination of premiums. While the need to stabilize and make the health insurance market more affordable is obvious, the solution is not to raise everyone else’s rates to subsidize select areas of the State. HB 1392 would have placed an assessment on every fully- and self-insured plan issued in Colorado. NFIB has committed to those on both sides of this issue to work together in developing a possible solution.
Boosted Personal Property Tax Exemption
Because of negotiations to get a transportation funding bill passed, Colorado small-business owners ended up with a Christmas-in-May gift of an increased tax exemption. Business owners will now be allowed a statewide tax credit that will refund personal property taxes paid by businesses to local governments on the first $18,000 worth of equipment that they own. The amount of the current exemption is $7,300.
Won Sales and Use Tax Reform
NFIB lobbied extensively for the passage of House Bill 1216, which creates a task force to study streamlining the myriad sales and use taxes in the state. Colorado is in the top four states in the country known for having the most complicated and inefficient sales tax collection and remittance process. Currently, Colorado maintains over 700 taxing districts. The Sales and Use Tax Simplification Task Force, which will be comprised of business owners from both small and large business organizations, legislative members, and state and local sales and use tax experts, along with local municipal and county governments., will examine issues such as uniform definitions of taxable items and a single point of collect and remittance of sales and use taxes collected by state, local, and home-rule governments.
Secured Clarification of Dispute Resolution Process
NFIB pushed for passage of Senate Bill 112, which clarified the General Assembly’s intent when it enacted a dispute resolution process in 1985 to address a situation when a taxpayer paid sales and use tax to one local government when it should have instead paid that disputed amount to a different local government. A recent court case applied the statute of limitations to this dispute resolution process, resulting in the taxpayer having to pay the disputed amount twice to two different local governments.
Preserved an Employer’s Right to Know
For the second session in a row, NFIB/Colorado defeated an attempt to prohibit an employer from inquiring about an applicant’s criminal history on the initial employment application. House Bill 1305 would have delayed the hiring process for small-business owners because they would have had to wait until an official job interview or a job offer to inquire about an applicant’s criminal history. Popularly called ‘Ban the Box’ bills, NFIB pointed out in this guest editorial sent to the Colorado media that these well-intended efforts to help ex-convicts wind up harming more people than they help.
Defeated State-Run Retirement Plans
House Bill 1290, which was vigorously opposed by NFIB/Colorado, would have invited state government into the business of managing retirement plans of private employees. Under the proposed legislation, which passed the House but died in the Senate, all businesses would be required to make a state-run retirement plan available to employees unless they already offered one, and employees would be automatically enrolled in the program unless they opted out. In addition to pointing out the abundant and private ways for everyone to save retirement, NFIB/Colorado pressed the point that HB 1290 would have created new fiduciary liabilities for small businesses.