#breckenridge #realestate #colorado
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The following is a partial re-print of Tony Jones opinion column from yesterday's Summit Daily News.
Even as a lawsuit plays out against Summit County government by short-term rental owners concerning the overregulation of such properties in the county, Colorado’s governor and the Democratic Party-majority legislature are considering a bill that would further the war against the short-term rental indtry in our sta and put many of its citizens at economic risk.
That bill would raise property taxes for short-term rental owners from the current residential rate of 6.75% to the rate paid by commercial lodging operations, 27.9%. While I appreciate that they’re setting a floor by applying this only to short-term rentals that rent out their property more than 90 days, this is still another example of the death by a thousand cuts that Colorado’s governmental entities are applying to the industry. I get it that these types of rentals may put strains on neighborhoods, affecting the lives of neighboring homeowners. So do non-short-term rental homes — owner-occupied properties or long-term rentals — with barking dogs, half a dozen vehicles parked in front and snow-covered walks. And while those who would push such legislation often suggest the targets of their regulation are only corporate-owned properties, they’re ignoring the collateral damage to hosts who are Colorado citizens renting rooms in their primary (or only) homes just to get by and the many retirees using their real estate investments to generate passive income.
Supporters also hope to milk yet more money from these homeowners to help address the housing crisis in Colorado. You know, the same way recent lodging tax hikes to these homeowners by many of Summit County’s taxing authorities was intended to do. This is happening despite the fact that with the repeal of the Gallagher Amendment these same governmental entities are now slated to receive revenue increases due to skyrocketing residential property taxes.
