The Denver Gazette’s Ed Sealover details a fresh push for “new” local revenue streams: vacancy taxes on homes that sit empty, real-estate transfer fees at closing, expanded short-term rental taxes, and even county-level excise taxes on selected goods or services. The Colorado Municipal League is shopping sponsors for several bills, and Rep. Kyle Brown is working with county leaders on the new excise-tax authority. Supporters frame it as a housing and services fix. Opponents call it a cost bomb with legal problems.
The story lays out numbers and politics. Transfer fees of 1 to 3 percent are lucrative in the mountain towns that adopted them before TABOR; some leaders want to call them “fees” tied to housing programs to dodge TABOR’s ban, though even Gov. Polis has said he would veto such a move because it adds to housing costs. Vacancy taxes are even fuzzier, with definitions and enforcement left to local governments. And a county excise-tax idea is bubbling with help from Boulder County.
The Bullet Point Brief
- CML is seeking bills for vacancy taxes, real-estate transfer fees, and broader short-term rental taxes; a separate proposal would let counties seek voter-approved excise taxes. That is a lot of new levers.
- Vacancy tax: purposefully undefined. Second homes are the target. Property-rights and enforcement red flags everywhere, from probate to remodels to weekend use.
- Transfer fee: 1 to 3 percent at closing. Mountain towns with pre-TABOR taxes rake in millions. Rebranding as a “fee” invites lawsuits; even Polis signals a veto.
- Short-term rentals: statutory towns want the same taxing powers as home-rule cities. Because when in doubt, tax the guest.
- Counterpoint in the piece: cut red tape, speed permits, and live within means. Or, as one voice asks, when will government focus on the budget it has instead of inventing new revenue.
My Bottom Line
Inflation is real. Every deputy’s car, plow blade, and gallon of diesel costs more. But the responsible first move for local government is not to sprint for new revenue schemes. The first move is to get smaller where you can, get better everywhere else, and reassess the proper role of government.
In Weld County, our primary revenue source is oil and gas property tax. The state legislature has spent seven years treating that industry like a piñata, and now we are feeling the revenue dents. Our answer is not a vacancy tax or a transfer fee. Our answer is efficiency, prioritization, and service discipline.
So Boulder County can link arms with Capitol Democrats to find new ways to reach into your pocket. I will not. I will work hard to ensure that Weld County will not be hunting for novel taxes. We will be hunting for waste. We will do more with less, and we will keep asking the only question that matters: what is the proper role of government, and how do we deliver that role at the lowest possible cost to the taxpayer.
If you want affordability, stop layering fees on homes and transactions and start cutting the friction that makes building, buying, and renting more expensive. Live within your means. Families do. Governments should, too.
Source: The Denver Gazette
