Short-term rentals in Colorado avoid tax hikes from killed bill

A bill that would have significantly grown taxes for thousands of short-term rentals in the state was killed in its first committee hearing late Tuesday even after the sponsor attempted to make changes to the legislation.

In its original form, Senate Bill 33 would have required any property used as a short-term rental for more than 90 days per year to pay the state’s lodging tax. Colorado’s property tax assessment rate for lodging properties in 2023 was 27.9%. For residential properties, it was set at 6.765%.

Sen. Chris Hansen, a Denver Democrat and prime sponsor of the bill, proposed changing the bill into only a study of short-term rental impacts. His amendment also would have prevented hotels from reclassifying their units as short-term rentals to avoid higher taxes.

The committee rejected those amendments and the overall bill.

Hansen disclosed the concept for the amendments to the Summit Daily last week and some who were opposed to the bill, including Chris Romer from the Vail Valley Partnership, said they would support those changes.