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  Home Page » News » Tax Bill To Find New Life As Study

Tax bill to find new life as study

by Joe Hanel
Herald Denver Bureau DENVER - Legislators have two ways to neutralize a bill: vote against it or turn it into a study.

The second fate befell Sen. Mark Scheffel's attempt to repeal the business personal property tax Tuesday. The Parker Republican's Senate Bill 85 survived an initial vote in the Senate last week, but opponents succeeded in sending it back to the Appropriations Committee.

Faced with the prospect of the bill dying on a 5-5 tie, Scheffel's allies rewrote the bill on the fly to turn it into a study of the tax. Businesses pay it on property they already own, making it a favorite target of the GOP and business-aligned Democrats.

SB 85 would have phased out the tax over 40 years. But opponents refused to repeal it without a way to replace lost revenues for cities, counties and the state.

Seeing the bill on the brink of death, Littleton Republican Sen. Mike Kopp asked to turn the bill into a study.

"It pains me to do this. I think it's the only play you've got right now," Kopp told Scheffel.

The newly weakened bill passes the committee on a 6-4 vote.

Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, wants the committee to study ways to replace the revenue from the business tax, "not just to tell us it's a terrible tax and we'd like it to be gone. We know that."

Scheffel said he was OK with the study, but he regretted his bill's fate.

"This has been studied ad nauseam. That's why I came up with the 40-year phase out. Now I'm being told we have to study it some more. I'm disappointed with that," Scheffel said.

Sen. Al White, a Hayden Republican who opposes Scheffel's bill, was worried the original bill could be reincarnated in the House.

But Scheffel and his Democratic co-sponsor, Suzanne Williams of Aurora, promised they would keep the bill as a study and not try to reinstate the tax repeal.

jhanel@durangoherald.com