Bill Tracker

If passed, the bill creates a state sales and use tax exemption beginning on July 1, 2024, for all sales, storage, and use of college textbooks. The bill allows a county or municipality to choose to adopt the exemption by express inclusion in its sales and use tax ordinance or resolution.

If passed, this bill creates a state sales and use tax exemption for baby and toddler products beginning on January 1, 2025, and continuing indefinitely. The bill also defines which "baby and toddler products" are eligible for the exemption. If passed, this bill would also create a time-limited state sales and use tax exemption, for back-to-school items. The tax holiday applies for 14 days beginning on January 1, 2025, and for an additional 14 days beginning on July 24, 2025. The bill defines which "back-to-school items” are eligible for the exemption and limits the cost of the exemption for each type of item. The bill also permits a town, city, or county to create sales and use tax exemptions that are identical to the state exemptions.

The bill specifies that home rule taxing jurisdictions that do not use the state sales and use tax simplification system (SUTS) must not collect sales and use tax from a retailer that does not have a physical presence in the state, unless the retailer elects to collect or remit sales tax or enters into a voluntary collection agreement with the jurisdiction. Beginning January 1, 2025, the bill also allows the Department of Revenue (DOR) to permit taxpayers who collect less than $600 in sales or use tax per month to file no more than once every three months. Currently, that threshold is $300 per month. Beginning January 1, 2026, DOR may increase that threshold by rule. 

The bill requires local taxing jurisdictions that impose a local lodging tax or a sales or use tax on building or construction materials that integrate such taxes into building permits (applicable sales or use tax) to file with the executive director of the department of revenue (executive director) a copy of the resolution or ordinance, and any amendments thereto, imposing such taxes and, if not included in the resolution, ordinance, or amendments, certain additional information related to each type of tax. For local lodging taxes, the bill requires local taxing jurisdictions to report the rate of the tax, the types of lodging the tax applies to, the number of days after which a stay may be exempt from the tax, and the amount of tax that may be retained by the collector of the tax in exchange for timely filing. By not later than July 1, 2025, and by not later than January 1 and July 1 of each year thereafter, the executive director must publish the information in the local taxing jurisdiction's reports relating to the local lodging tax and applicable sales or use tax. The bill expands the scope of the Sales and Use Tax Simplification Task Force and requires reporting of local lodging taxes and sales and use taxes integrated with building permits.

Under current law, a county treasurer must issue a treasurer’s deed to the owner of a tax lien if the owner applies for the deed and the lien has been held for at least three years and has not been redeemed. The bill removes this requirement. The bill also establishes a process where an owner of the lien who has held an unredeemed tax lien for at least three years may apply for a public auction of the certificate of purchase for the property. If the certificate of property is sold at the auction, then the treasurer may issue a treasurer’s deed to the new owner of the certificate of purchase, transferring ownership of the property. The bill also creates a new class 2 misdemeanor offense of inducing or attempting to induce another person to enter into an agreement to pay compensation to recover or assist in recovering an amount due to the property owner. 

The bill creates a process for the establishment of a county revitalization authority. An authority is a corporate body that uses tax increment and private financing to conduct a county revitalization project in a revitalization area in accordance with a county revitalization plan

The bill assesses commercial short-term rental units – or units designed for residential use that are leased for short-term stays and are not the primary or secondary residence of a property owner – at the commercial lodging assessment rate beginning for the 2025 property tax year. The bill adds several definitions for property tax purposes including for commercial short-term rental units, short-term rental units, short-term stays, and secondary residences. The bill also creates a process for short-term rental owners to submit an affidavit to the county assessor specifying whether the property will be used for short-term rentals in the following property tax year and whether the property is the owner’s primary or secondary residence.

The bill requires taxing authorities to submit information about the structure of their mill levies with the annual certification of levies starting with the 2024 property tax year. The information is required to be available on request in 2025, and thereafter made publicly available. The required information includes:  

• • the rate of each levy that the taxing authority imposes;  
  • the prior year levy and revenue collected from it;  
  • the maximum levy that may be levied without further voter approval;  
  • allowable annual growth in revenue collected from the levy;  
  • actual growth in revenue collected from the levy over the prior year;  
  • whether revenue from the levy is subject to TABOR limitations;  
  • whether revenue from the levy is subject to the statutory 5.5 percent local revenue growth limit;  
  • whether revenue from the levy is subject to any other limit;  whether the levy must be adjusted, or a credit allowed, to limit revenue collected for the tax year and the amount if applicable; and  
  • any other information deemed necessary by the Department of Local Affairs. 

Lastly, the bill removes the requirement under current law that assessors include an estimate of taxes owed with the notice of valuation that is sent annually to each property owner in May

This resolution would refer a measure to the voters that would limit a district's property tax revenue growth for any property tax year commencing on or after January 1, 2025, to an amount equal to the sum of:

• The amount of revenue generated by the district's mill levy for the immediately preceding property tax year; plus
• An amount equal to the base revenue multiplied by a percentage equal to the percentage change allowed for state revenue growth under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) plus 2%; plus
• The net dollar amount of district property tax revenue gained from newly taxed property such as new construction and lost from newly untaxed property such as taxable improvements to real property that are destroyed.

If the estimated amount of property tax revenue subject to the district limit that will be generated by a district's current mill levy will exceed the district limit, then the mill levy must be reduced so that the amount of property tax revenue generated does not exceed the district limit unless maintenance of the current mill levy is approved:

• By the voters of the district for a district that has not received voter approval to exceed its TABOR fiscal year spending and property tax revenue limits; or
• By the governing body of the district for a district that has received such voter approval.

CCI Priority

The bill authorizes boards of county commissioners to offer county property tax credits or rebates as part of an incentive program to encourage improvements in areas of specific local concern related to the use of real property. Municipalities are authorized to offer an identical program with municipal property tax credits and rebates. The programs must be annually evaluated for effectiveness and may be renewed for up to one year only if the program is found to be effective.

The bill requires local taxing jurisdictions,  which are limited to jurisdictions for which the department of revenue does not collect, administer, and enforce a local lodging tax to apply the same standards to an accommodation intermediary as to a marketplace facilitator that is obligated to collect and remit a local lodging tax. It prohibits local taxing jurisdictions from requiring additional reporting information from accommodation intermediaries that are not similarly required from other marketplace facilitators. 

The bill does not prohibit a local taxing jurisdiction from requesting information maintained by an accommodation's intermediary that is in connection with an audit related to a local lodging tax or from requesting and obtaining additional information or data from a marketplace facilitator or accommodation's intermediary to be provided on a voluntary basis or prohibit a home rule municipality, for purposes unrelated to the administration of local taxes, from passing an ordinance regulating a marketplace facilitator or an accommodation's intermediary, including an ordinance governing the issuance of information or data by a marketplace facilitator or accommodation's intermediary to the home rule city.

The bill was amended to remove coutnies. 

The bill revises, modernizes, and harmonizes the separate statutes that govern the state administration of local sales or use tax. The bill modernizes and revises the state laws that govern state administration of local sales or use taxes, including:  

• • making Department of Revenue (DOR) administration of local sales and use taxes consistent with the administration of the state sales tax;  
  • clarifying procedures for local jurisdictions to notify the department of revenue of any changes to sales or use taxes;  
  • permitting local jurisdictions to allow retailers to retain a percentage of the amount remitted to cover the retailer’s expenses in collecting the fee; 
  • aligns the dispute resolution process for local sales and use tax administration with state sales tax administration;  
  • requiring local jurisdictions to identify liaisons to coordinate with DOR related to the collection of their sales and use tax;  
  • repealing a current law provision requiring that if voters reject a county sales and use tax measure, it cannot be submitted again for one year and 350 days; and 
  • clarifying which sales and use taxes can be administered by DOR. 

The bill classifies property designed for use as a residence, but that is only used for short-term rentals, as lodging property under the definition of hotels and motels. This excludes bed and breakfasts. The bill also requires that homes that are not used as primary residences but are used mostly as short-term rental units be classified and assessed as lodging property, beginning with the 2026 property tax year. These homes will be classified as lodging property if they were leased for short-term stays for more than 90 days during the year.

The Senate Sponsor attempted to amend this into a study in the Senate committee, that amendment was ultimately unsuccessful. 

See Below on SB24-183

For the 2025 and 2026 property tax years, the bill reduces the assessed value, or taxable value, of owner-occupied senior primary residences for those who have previously qualified for the existing senior homestead exemption but who are currently ineligible. Under the bill, assessed value is reduced by subtracting 50 percent of the first $200,000 from the actual value of the property before the assessment rate is applied. The subtraction is limited to the lesser of $100,000 or the amount that reduces a property’s assessed value to $1,000. The bill:  

• • creates a new subclass of residential property called qualified-senior primary residence real property;  
  • establishes a process for owner-occupiers to apply to county assessors for the new subclassification;  
  • sets the assessment rate for the new subclassification at 7.15 percent, consistent with the residential assessment rate under current law; 
  • requires county assessors to report the properties within each county that qualify for the new subclassification to the Division of Property Taxation by September 10 each year; and  
  • requires the state to reimburse local governments for the lost revenue under the measure and establishes these reimbursements as a state TABOR refund mechanism in years in which the state refunds a TABOR surplus. 

For the purposes of property taxation, the bill reduces actual valuations for the 2025 property tax year and caps growth for most classes of property each assessment cycle.

For the 2024 income tax year through the 2026 income tax year, the bill creates a nonrefundable income tax credit (credit), which cannot be carried forward, for a taxpayer who:

Rents the taxpayer's primary residence in the state; and

Has a federal adjusted gross income (AGI) that is less than or equal to $75,000 if filing a single return, or less than or equal to $150,000 if filing a joint return (qualifying taxpayer).

The amount of the credit is:

• $2,000 for 2 qualifying taxpayers filing a joint return with a federal AGI that is $50,000 or less. For every $500 of AGI above $50,000, the amount of the credit is reduced by $10.
• $1,000 for a qualifying taxpayer filing a single return with a federal AGI that is $25,000 or less. For every $500 of AGI above $25,000, the amount of the credit is reduced by $10.

The bill specifies that a qualifying taxpayer who is eligible to claim any other income tax credit that is allowed to a taxpayer who rents the taxpayer's primary residence and has a federal AGI that is less than or equal to $75,000 if filing a single return, or less than or equal to $150,000 if filing a joint return, may claim the income tax credit allowed in the bill or the other income tax credit allowed for income-qualified renters, but not both.

The bill temporarily suspends such distraint sales and creates a task force to make recommendations for statutory changes in order to bring state law into compliance with the United States supreme court's recent decision affirming a property owner's constitutional right to the value of their property in excess of their tax debt. In addition to recommending changes to the statute governing the distraint sale of mobile homes to ensure that any sale proceeds in excess of the owner's tax debt are paid to the owner, the task force is also charged with studying and making recommendations related to the valuation of mobile homes for assessment, titling of mobile homes, and taxation of mobile homes. 

The Key elements of SB24-233 include:

1. Reduction in Property Valuation Rates: The bill gradually reduces the valuation rates for commercial and residential properties over several years. For commercial properties, the valuation rate will decrease from 27.9% in 2024 to 25% by 2027. Residential properties will see similar reductions, with specific adjustments for different types of residential real estate. 
2. Exemptions for Homeowners: The bill introduces a 10% exemption on the first $700,000 of a home’s value, adjusted for inflation, to help lower the effective property tax rate for low- to moderately-valued homes. 
3. Reimbursement Mechanism for Local Governments: To offset the potential loss in revenue due to these tax reductions, the state will reimburse local governments based on the reduction in property values compared to the 2022 tax year. This aims to ensure that local services and operations are not adversely affected by the new tax measures. This was limited to those local taxing jurisdictions that saw a reduction in revenue as a result of the property tax reductions passed by the general assembly. SB24-233 also directs nearly $380 million from the State Education Fund to backfill school districts, ensuring public schools remain fully funded.
4. Property Tax Deferral Program: Starting in the 2025 tax year, the existing property tax deferral program will be adjusted to allow deferral of tax payments exceeding the average of the previous two years' taxes, without the current 4% cap. 
5. Finally, SB24-233 provides protection against future spikes in property taxes by capping an increase in local property taxes at 5.5 percent starting in 2025, creating more certainty for homeowners and businesses.