Extraordinary Indeed: What the Heck Just Happened?!
On November 9th, Governor Polis called a special session to address property tax relief, the high cost of living, and support for working families and their children. In his call, he included property tax relief, local government backfill, TABOR refund mechanisms, rental assistance, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the Summer EBT program as policies to be crafted and debated during the special session.
The Colorado Fiscal Institute (CFI) and the Helping Colorado Families Get Ahead (HCFGA) Coalition jumped at the opportunity to advocate for longtime policy priorities, increasing the EITC and flattening TABOR rebates. And our hard work paid off — as of Monday, November 20th, bills to increase the state EITC (HB23B-1002) and give everyone identical TABOR rebates (SB23B-003) are on their way to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.
HB23B-1002 will increase the state match of the federal EITC from 25% to 50% for tax year 2023 (to be received in 2024) and SB23B-003 will direct TABOR refunds to be distributed through a flat amount to qualifying taxpayers, instead of through the six-tier sales tax refund mechanism, for tax year 2023. The EITC expansion increased the average credit from $500 to $1,000, and the rebate flattening increased the refund for Coloradans making under $100,000 by as much as $450. The average EITC filer who makes under $50,000 could receive as much as an extra $950 with their combined increased credit and rebate. CFI led the advocacy charge on both of these critical bills.
Rental and food assistance expansions passed as well. Housing advocates and sponsors pushed hard for a $30 million grant program to provide emergency rental assistance to renters with less than 80% Area Median Income (AMI) through HB23B-1001 that passed out of the Senate on Monday morning. Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) also passed, via SB23B-002. The bill provides food benefits to low-income student households over the summer, when students are not in school.
SB23B-001 provided property tax relief by lowering the statewide assessment rate from 6.765% to 6.7% and increasing the valuation exemption from $15,000 to $50,000 for the 2023 property tax year. This means that homeowners in Colorado will see a lower property tax bill by taking $50,000 off the assessed value of their home, and lowering the overall portion of their home’s value that is taxable. The average Colorado homeowner will save $215 on their property tax bill.
The Special Session was quick and high-stakes — many of the bills that passed had to be done before the end of the year to be able to apply to the 2023 tax year and provide immediate relief. Property owners, EITC recipients, and TABOR rebate recipients will see these changes as early as January 2024, when they can file their 2023 taxes.
CFI is grateful to our sponsors, fellow advocates, and staff. This Special Session was a unique opportunity, one that our legislative champions, partners, ambassadors, and supporters were ready to seize. CFI is excited to continue this work alongside them when legislators reconvene in January for the 2024 session.
Watch our 2-minute video for further explanations of our priority bills!
2023 November Session Fact Sheets:
SB23B-003 Identical TABOR Refund Testimony
