Colorado lawmakers got an earful Tuesday from short-term rental owners on a proposal to classify many of their homes as commercial properties and impose a much higher tax rate.

The legislation would roughly quadruple property taxes for tens of thousands of short-term rental homes in Colorado. It drew fiery testimony from more than 80 speakers at Tuesday's hearing of the Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning Tax Policy, which voted to advance the bill to the full legislature in January.  

The measure would classify homes that are rented for more than 90 days a year on a short-term basis   defined as less than a month per booking   as commercial lodging properties. The property tax assessment rate for lodging properties is 27.9% compared with the 6.765% rate used this year for residential properties.

More than 75 of the speakers voiced ardent opposition to the proposed law, an indication of the political hurdles the measure faces. The change, endorsed recently by Gov. Jared Polis, is meant to place short-term properties on level ground with hotels and motels and generate more money for schools and local districts, which are funded by property tax revenue. Similar proposals to shift short-term rentals over to commercial tax rates have fizzled at the Capitol in recent years under pressure from short-term rental owners.


moar

FCD (Fuck Kolorado Dems - yeah, I know I used the K )

It’s for the children!  How can you be against it?