For the second year in a row, we were overly optimistic when Sen. Mark Scheffel introduced a bill in the Colorado Senate that would have eliminated the Colorado Business Personal Property Tax.
This is one of the worst laws on the Colorado books, and should be sent to the circular file as soon as possible.
It is not that we, as business people, do not want to do our fair share. It is more that we think we already do our share, and believe that this tax is just one more way in which the state government is holding a thumb on the success of businesses in general, and especially small businesses.
The Business Personal Property Tax, in effect, taxes and re-taxes every piece of equipment on the premises of a business. It is a classic case of double taxation taken to exponential extremes. We pay taxes on every piece of equipment we buy, then pay taxes to use the equipment until we can legally say its useful life is gone.
Scheffel, who is a Republican from Douglas County introduced two bills dealing with the tax. His SB 85 would have started a program in which five counties would be reimbursed for revenues lost as a result of abandoning the tax. To qualify a county had to have a population of more than 20,000, but less than 50,000. These were the counties deemed by Scheffel that would be impacted the most.
SB 86 would have phased in an exception for fully depreciated property. Beginning in 2023 the exemption would have started at 25 percent and increased every year until the property was entirely exempt.
But, for the second year in a row, we were disappointed when the Democratic controlled State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee killed both bills in committee.
But, the fact of the matter is that most businesses don’t really pay any of these taxes; they simply pass the cost along to the customer. So much for taxing the wealthy.
This tax has been the focus on one study after another, but the tax-and-spend government leaders we now have can only come up with one excuse for not supporting the elimination: “We need to study this.”
Our opinion is that the elimination of this tax would do more for the economy than fifteen more signs along the highway telling us how much the state is doing for us. We wish, just once, they would try the lower taxes approach to economic stimulus.
