Senate Committee, Governor Praised for Sales Tax Actions

Date: April 25, 2017

News Release: This afternoon’s 5-0 vote, last week’s signing of bill, giving small business relief

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tony Gagliardi, Colorado State Director, [email protected]
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, [email protected]

DENVER, Colo., April 25, 2017—This afternoon’s action by the Senate Finance Committee of the Colorado General Assembly drew high praise from the representative group for the people who are the engine of the state’s economy: Small-business owners.

“In actions taken by the Senate and Gov. John Hickenlooper, small businesses are delighted to see that their long-hoped-for goal of simplifying our state’s sales and use tax collection slowly becoming a reality,” said Tony Gagliardi, Colorado state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, America’s voice of small business with 7,000 Colorado members.

“Colorado has 700 taxing districts, which has created a costly, confusing, needlessly time-consuming burden on small businesses, especially, because they don’t have the resources to have someone solely dedicated to compliance. Everyone, including governments in need of revenue, would benefit from having a central collector and distributor of sales and use taxes.

House Bill 1216, which passed the Senate Finance Committee, today, on a 5-0 vote, “creates the sales and use tax simplification task force made up of legislative members and state and local sales and use tax experts,” according to the measure’s language. “The bill requires the task force to study sales and use tax simplification between the state and local governments, and in particular between the state and home rule jurisdictions.” Gagliardi testified in favor of its passage.

Related to today’s action, Gagliardi praised Governor Hickenlooper for his signing into law Senate Bill 112, last week. That measure adds greater clarification “on statutes of limitations in the dispute resolution process when a taxpayer owes sales or use tax to one local government but has erroneously paid the disputed tax to another local government,” according to a news release put out the governor’s office.

“It was great to see the governor’s old entrepreneurial spirit shine through on this bill, which begins to bring back some balance in favor of a small-business owner when confronting the tax man over a mistake created more by the mess our sales and use tax system is in than anything and entrepreneur did inadvertently,” said Gagliardi. “I think it worth pointing out, again and again, that both House Bill 1216 and Senate Bill 112 were bipartisan efforts. So, kudos to those Democratic and Republican lawmakers who put partisanship aside to unite on an issue affecting all Coloradans.”

More information can be found on the Simplify Colorado Sales Tax coalition website. Gagliardi is president of the coalition’s executive committee.

###

For more than 70 years, the National Federation of Independent Business has been the Voice of Small Business, taking the message from Main Street to the halls of Congress and all 50 state legislatures. NFIB annually surveys its members on state and federal issues vital to their survival as America’s economic engine and biggest creator of jobs. NFIB’s educational mission is to remind policymakers that small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses; they have very different challenges and priorities.

National Federation of Independent Business/Colorado
1580 Logan St. Suite 520
Denver, CO 80203
303-831-6099
www.nfib.com/colorado
Twitter: @NFIB_CO

Related Content: Small Business News | Colorado | Taxes

Subscribe For Free News And Tips

Enter your email to get FREE small business insights. Learn more

Get to know NFIB

NFIB is a member-driven organization advocating on behalf of small and independent businesses nationwide.

Learn More

Or call us today
1-800-634-2669

© 2001 - 2024 National Federation of Independent Business. All Rights Reserved. Terms and Conditions | Privacy