Property tax bills and temporary TABOR relief passes General Assembly
Property Tax relief bill = After much discussion and amendments, the bill eventually passed both the House and Senate. It now heads to the governor’s desk for signature.
—Proposition HH. Voters will have the final say in November when the property tax measure appears on the ballot, asking voters for for permission to raise the C cap tax.
—The Colorado General Assembly approved on Monday a measure that will ask voters to forego part of their TABOR refunds in exchange for providing tax relief to property owners. Republicans called it a bride to get people to vote for it, and they walked out. Senate Bill 303 (“Reduce Property Taxes and Voter-approved Revenue Change,: 23-303 by CO General Assembly”) would raise what’s called the Referendum C cap by 1% and keep that additional revenue for a 10-year period. That would generate about $167 million per year; thereby funneling to local governments to hold them harmless from reductions in property tax revenue. The bill also diverts some of that TABOR surplus to the state education fund.
—An amendment hiked the valuation reduction from $40,000 to $50,000. Another amendment would ensure fire districts got their share of the property tax backfill; and the Republicans walked out under protest.
—The Republicans would like to call a special session, and feel this was rushed. They feel it will eliminate the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) permanently, for a small tax relief. Democrats responded that everybody will still be getting a refund into the future.
—A nonpartisan council says Coloradans can expect approximately a 23% decrease in their TABOR refunds in 2025 if voters approve the November ballot initiative. (per Denver Channel 7News)
—The year has ended for the General Assembly, and the legislators have gone home to their districts now.
—“I think that’s a reasonable way to say, ‘Look, we can do all these things,’” Polis said. “We can show a strong and healthy surplus, we can reduce property taxes, by reducing property taxes it reduces revenues for many districts, we can backfill some of that.”
—Earlier in the week, the Senate gave its final approval to House Bill 23-1311, that accompanied the measure, which intends to equalize TABOR refunds. Single taxpayers would receive $661 refunds; joint filers, $1,322 (for both renters and homeowners). It is part of Prop. HH. It would replace the state’s current six-tiered sales tax refund. (SEE: Identical Temporary TABOR Refund
Concerning the creation of an identical refund payment of excess state revenues from all sources as a mechanism to refund a portion of the excess state revenues for the 2022-23 state fiscal year only.)
SB23-303
Reduce Property Taxes And Voter-approved Revenue Change
Concerning a reduction in property taxes, and, in connection therewith, creating a limit on annual property tax increases for certain local governments; temporarily reducing the valuation for assessment of certain residential and nonresidential property; creating new subclasses of property; permitting the state to retain and spend revenue up to the proposition HH cap; requiring the retained revenue to be used to reimburse certain local governments for lost property tax revenue and to be deposited in the state education fund to backfill the reduction in school district property tax revenue; transferring general fund money to the state public school fund and to a cash fund to also be used for the reimbursements; eliminating the cap on the amount of excess state revenues that may be used for the reimbursements for the 2023 property tax year; referring a ballot issue; and making an appropriation.
Here is a link to the Senate Bill 22-238 “2023 and 2024 Property Tax Reduction Bill”
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb22-238 = This passed last year in the 2022 Session, and positively affected this year’s property tax.
Concerning reductions in real property taxation for only the 2023 and 2024 property tax years, and, in connection therewith, reducing the assessment rates for certain classes of nonresidential property and all residential property and the amount of actual value to which the rate is applied for all residential real property and commercial property for 2023; reducing the assessment rates for all multi-family residential real property to a set amount for 2024; reducing the assessment rates for all residential real property other than multi-family residential real property for 2024 by an amount determined by the property tax administrator to cumulatively with the other provisions of the bill reduce statewide property tax revenue for 2023 and 2024 by a specified amount; reducing the assessment rates for real and personal property that is classified as agricultural or renewable energy production property for 2024; and requiring the state to reimburse local governments, excluding school districts, in 2024 for 2023 reductions in their property tax revenue resulting from the bill
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