SMALL BUSINESSES

Colorado’s small businesses are the backbone of our economy. Democrats worked hard this year to support small businesses by providing tax relief, slashing fees, cutting red tape, and infusing the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund. These initiatives will save businesses money, and provide them with the support and resources they need as our economy continues to recover from the pandemic.

Unemployment Compensation | SB22-234

Hansen & Rankin / Ortiz & Snyder

When the pandemic hit and thousands of Coloradans lost their jobs, the state’s unemployment insurance program was there to help families pay rent and keep food on the table. This bill infuses Colorado’s unemployment insurance trust fund (UITF) with $600 million in pandemic relief funds which will help prevent higher premiums, reduce interest payments, and avoid a repeal in the federal unemployment tax credit that would otherwise be shouldered by Colorado businesses.

SALT Parity Act | SB22-124

Kolker & Woodward / Ortiz & Van Winkle

This bill allows pass-through businesses to elect to retroactively pay their state income tax at the entity level, rather than the individual level, beginning in tax year 2018, and creates a tax credit for owners of electing pass-through businesses. Overall, this bill will save Colorado taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in federal income tax.

Simplify Local Sales & Use Tax Administration | SB22-032

Bridges & Woodward / Kipp & Van Winkle

This bill streamlines the imposition, collection, and administration of sales and use taxes imposed on retail businesses that either do not have physical presence in a local taxing jurisdiction or have only incidental physical presence in a local taxing jurisdiction through the streamlining of application requirements at the Department of Revenue, and by the elimination of fees for local general business licenses.

Qualified Retailer Retain Sales Tax | HB22-1406

Herod & Roberts / Coleman & Hinrichsen

In the 2020 special legislative session, the General Assembly passed a bill to allow qualifying retailers, including restaurant, bars, and mobile food services providers, to deduct up to $70,000 monthly from state net taxable sales for up to five sites for a four-month period. The legislature added another four-month period again in 2021, and with the passage of this bill, extended it for another four-month period from July to September 2022.

2023 And 2024 Property Tax | SB22-238

Hansen & Rankin / Weissman & Neville

Rising property values have put a squeeze on families as property taxes have increased. Colorado Democrats addressed this by providing $700 million in property tax relief over two years for homeowners and businesses, helping families stay in their homes and cutting costs for businesses statewide. Specifically, the bill allocates $500 million in 2023 to reduce the nonresidential property tax rate from 29% to 27.9%, and will reduce the tax rate for residential property from 6.95% to 6.76%. The bill also reduces the taxable value for commercial properties by $30,000, and $15,000 for residential properties.

Sales Tax Assistance For Small Bus | SB22-006

Kolker & Rodriguez / McLachlan & Snyder

Vendors and/or retailers are entitled a percentage of sales tax they collect — vendor fees — to cover the cost of processing sales taxes and transferring them to state and local governments. As part of the Colorado Democrats' ongoing effort to support Colorado small businesses, this bill increases the state vendor fee from 4.0% to 5.3% starting January 1, 2023. The increase is effective for one calendar year and applies only to retailers with less than $100,000 in taxable sales per filing period. This temporary increase will help small businesses stay afloat while the economy continues to recover.

Reduce Fees For Bus Filings | HB22-1001

Pettersen & Kolker / Cutter & Sullivan

This bill makes it easier to start a business by transferring over $16 million to the Department of State so that the department can significantly reduce business filing fees. Current fee amounts range from $10 to $50 per transaction, but the Department of State plans to reduce fees to $1 per filing.

The Innovative Housing Incentive Program | HB22-1282

Pettersen & Kolker / Mullica & Lynch

Small businesses rely on workers to thrive, and this bill will help more workers live where they work. HB22-1282 creates the Innovative Housing Incentive Program in the Office of Economic Development & International Trade to support innovative housing businesses through funding from grants and loans. Eligible recipients are innovative housing businesses, which include manufacturers of prefabricated panelized construction, 3-D printed housing, kit homes, tiny homes, and manufacturers of other manufactured homes, as originally defined in HB21-1019. Eligible recipients may use grants for operating expensive and per-unit subsidies based on a number of different factors, and may use loans for establishing or expanding factories in the state. This program is funded with $40 million from the Affordable Housing and Home Ownership Cash Fund.

Modify Main Street Business Recovery Loan Program | HB22-1328

Donovan / Titone & McLachlan

As our economy continues to recover, small businesses need all  the support they can get. This bill makes multiple changes to the Colorado Loans for Increasing Main Street Business Economic Recovery Act, which provides small business recovery loans to Colorado businesses. Changes include: increasing the amount of capital that can be issued; lowering the minimum amount of a loan to a small business; lengthening the maximum initial maturity of a loan to a small business; and extending the period through which the program can issue capital for the loan program.

Meat Processing Grant And Loan Assistance | SB22-209

Donovan & Sonnenberg / Roberts & Pelton

The ag industry is a critical sector  of Colorado’s economy. This bill requires the Colorado Department of Agriculture to establish a technical assistance position to help small meat processors and people trying to start a small meat processing business apply for grants and loans offered by the United States Department of Agriculture and other entities. In early 2022, the USDA announced that they were making available up to $215 million in grants and other support to expand meat and poultry processing options, strengthen the food supply chain, and create jobs and economic opportunities in rural areas, and this state program will help Coloradans take advantage of it.