Hey small business owners, remember that time you had to be a quant jock to apply for a tax that would later be credited?  No?  Oh just wait.

There is no shortage of examples demonstrating the various ways in which Governor Hickenlooper and his allies in the Democrat-controlled state legislature have worked to create a hostile business climate in Colorado.  Now, they’re offering a token nod to business issues…or are they?

One of the most anti-business laws on Colorado’s books – and the Democrats have been supporting this for years – is the notorious Business Personal Property Tax, which levies an assessment against some of the most critical factors of production used by businesses in this state.  The value of the machinery, furniture, equipment, and other resources that business owners use to create jobs and produce income is taxed under this complicated law.  The Democrats even go after equipment in storage not in use.

Since 2008, Colorado State Senator Mark Scheffel and his Republicans colleagues have been trying to repeal this onerous tax, just to be blocked every time by Democrat governors and lawmakers.  In fact, the Denver Business Journal reported that Scheffel has put forth no fewer than 11 bills to get rid of this job killing tax.  Now, seemingly out of nowhere, the Democrats want to reduce the hardship that this tax places on Colorado’s job creators – kind of.  They still want businesses to pay the tax, but allow them to apply for a refund against the taxes paid on the first $25,000 of business personal property that was taxed.

Nevermind the fact that this is one of the most complicated and time consuming taxes in the entire state code in terms of compliance.  One form, used to determine the tax on assets used in renewable energy production (there is, of course, a carve out for renewable energy), requires the filer to use the Goal Seek function in Excel, typically used by those seeking a PhD in finance, to determine the tax.  For those of you not currently enrolled in that PhD program, you can learn more about Goal Seek here from the website XLNinja.com

If the Democrats were serious about providing relief from this tax, they would have eliminated it.  Years ago.  Via one of the 11 times a bill has been introduced by Sen. Scheffel.  Hickenlooper and the Democrats had their opportunity to fix this issue and many others, yet time and time again they failed the workers and job creators of this great state.  This bill is just another insight into Democrats’ lack of understanding about the needs of small business owners.