Amendment B on your Colorado state ballot calls for the repeal of the Gallagher Amendment of 1982. The Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce and the other partners of the Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance support Amendment B.
A ‘yes’ vote repeals the Gallagher Amendment from the state constitution. The amendment has locked residential and non-residential property assessment rates into the constitution. The repeal would allow the state legislature to freeze property tax assessment rates at the current rates of 7.15% for residential and 29% on non-residential.
Without this change, the businesses in Colorado will see their property taxes increase by over $250 million next year according to a recent study by NFIB and over $811 million over 3 years.
With each passing year, more of the property tax burden in the state is being shifted from residents onto businesses. Patently unfair on its own, it’s now very bad public policy with business severely damaged by the government shutdown of the economy due to Covid-19. Gallagher is one more impediment to economic recovery.
The Chamber is recommending ‘yes’ on Amendment B to repeal Gallagher. Go here for more on the Chamber’s positions and go here if you want deeper background with information on both sides of the issue.