Use Tax
Clear The Bench Colorado called it (back in 2010): Federal court strikes down Colorado’s unconstitutional ‘Amazon Tax’
Clear The Bench Colorado called it (back in 2010): as reported in the Denver Post (“Federal court tosses Colorado’s Amazon tax“), the Denver Business Journal (“Colorado’s ‘Amazon tax’ struck down“) and ably analyzed on the View from a Height blog (“Amazon Tax Bites The Dust“) – the unconstitutional, and never-collected, Colorado ‘Amazon Tax’ was overturned in federal court.
Clear The Bench Colorado was at the forefront of the opposition to the unconstitutional “Dirty Dozen” tax increases passed by the Colorado Legislature in 2010 – testifying before the House and Senate Finance Committees that the tax increases were violations of the rights of Colorado citizens under the Colorado Constitution (Article X, Section 20: Taxpayers Bill of Rights) to be consulted (by vote) before being subjected to more or higher taxes, despite an interpretation of the Colorado Supreme Court ruling in the “Mill Levy Tax Freeze” case that the requirement to ask first could be ignored.
The 2010 internet sales tax (or “Amazon Tax”) House Bill 10-1193: Sales Tax Out of State Retailers (Pommer/Heath) was among the worst of the “Dirty Dozen” tax increases from both a constitutional and policy perspective, since previous court rulings had already held that a state’s attempts to regulate commerce in other states (as this tax attempted to do) ran afoul of the U.S. Constitution.
Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold testified before both the state House and Senate Finance committees that the Amazon Tax was a violation of both the Colorado Constitution (TABOR – Article X, Section 20) and the US Constitution before the law was passed back in 2010 and boldly predicted that the law would be challenged – and be struck down – in federal court.
Instead of heeding the warning, the Democrat-controlled legislature passed what was clearly an unconstitutional law (depending, no doubt, on a then reliably anti-constitutional Colorado Supreme Court to uphold the law) which not only failed to collect any tax revenue, but wound up costing the state tens if not hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to defend the indefensible in federal court when the law was (predictably) challenged – and (predictably) overturned.
It’s worth noting that the challenge was filed in Federal court, not in the state courts, because the plaintiffs clearly understand that the Colorado Supreme Court has established a pattern of failing to uphold the law (as written) and that the current majority on the court would have a vested interest in striking down any challenge to the tax increase law since it relied explicitly on an interpretation of their ruling in the “Mill Levy Tax Freeze” case. It’s a sad state of affairs when businesses and consumers cannot count on the courts in our state to uphold the rule of law – part of why Colorado is regarded as a “judicial hellhole.”
Clear The Bench Colorado will, with your support, continue to promote transparency and accountability in the Colorado judiciary, informing the public to increase awareness of the substantial public policy implications of an unrestrained activism and political agendas in the courts. We will continue to work to educate voters and provide information of relevance related to the judicial branch, and to provide useful and substantive evaluations of judicial performance.
However, we can’t do it alone – we need your continued support; via your comments (Sound Off!) and, yes, your contributions. Freedom isn’t free -nor is it always easy to be a Citizen, not a subject.
Ultimately, though – it’s worth the effort.
Colorado Senate kills bill to repeal unconstitutional ‘Amazon Tax’ – one of ten “Dirty Dozen” tax increases held over from 2010
“No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.” – Mark Twain (1866)
Although the 2011 legislative session is now (happily) concluded and part of the history of Colorado Politics, the effects of the bills passed this session and last will continue to be felt for some time…
Case in point: the majority of the “Dirty Dozen” tax increase bills passed during the 2010 legislative session (which exploited a Colorado Supreme Court ruling to take more of your money without asking, as is required under the Colorado Constitution) remain in effect. Although the new legislative majorities were able to repeal two of the “Dirty Dozen” tax increases this year – last month, the legislature made progress towards “Cleaning up the ‘Dirty Dozen’ tax increases” with repeal of last year’s Agriculture tax increase, HB10-1195, Suspend Ag Sales & Use Tax Exemption (Ferrandino/Heath), and downloaded software tax increase, (HB 10-1192, Sales and Use Tax of Standardized Software (Pommer/Heath) – the remaining (unconstitutional) tax increase laws passed in 2010 (such as the “Candy Tax” and – my dog’s least favorite – the “Doggy Bag Tax”) remain on the books.
The “Dirty Dozen” was the name given to a package of twelve legislative bills which sought to increase tax revenues by eliminating existing tax credits or exemptions – an end-run around the constitutional requirement (in Article X, Section 20 – colloquially known as the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR) for “voter approval in advance for… any new tax, tax rate increase, or… tax policy change directly causing a net tax revenue gain to any district.”
Even going into the last days of the 2011 legislative session, it appeared that what may have been the least popular of last year’s “Dirty Dozen” tax increases, the ‘Amazon Tax’ (HB 10-1193, Sales Tax Out of State Retailers (Pommer/Heath), was also likely to be another one to bite the dust. Since the so-called ‘Amazon Tax’ was not only in violation of the Colorado Constitution, but also infringed upon the U.S. Constitution’s 4th Amendment protections against ‘unreasonable searches and seizures’, it had been challenged (in Federal Court – in order to avoid the judicial hellhole of Colorado jurisprudence) and prevented from enforcement by court injunction, anyway. Given that the tax isn’t being collected anyway, and continuing to defend the tax in court keeps racking up taxpayer dollars in legal expenses, repealing the bill would seem to be a no-brainer.
That proved to be true in the House, where a bill introduced to repeal and replace the tax (HB 11-1318, Notification of Use Taxes, Stephens/Schaffer) appeared to be on the fast track to passage; the ‘Amazon Tax’ repeal bill was swiftly and overwhelmingly approved (on a 58-6 bipartisan vote) in the House, but was prevented from coming to a vote (killing it via a procedural move without having to take a recorded position) by Senate President Brandon Shaffer (D-Longmont).
Sometimes, it would appear, legislative action is not sufficient to succeed in undoing previous acts of the same legislature putting one’s life, liberty, or property at risk…
NONE of the “Dirty Dozen” tax bills would have seen the light of day if not for last year’s legislature’s exploitation of a Colorado Supreme Court ruling to bypass the Colorado Constitution’s requirement to receive “voter approval in advance for… any new tax, tax rate increase, or… tax policy change directly causing a net tax revenue gain to any district.”
Clear The Bench Colorado will, with your support, continue to promote transparency and accountability in the Colorado judiciary, informing the public to increase awareness of the substantial public policy implications of an unrestrained activism and political agendas in the courts. We will continue to work to educate voters and provide information of relevance related to the judicial branch, and to provide useful and substantive evaluations of judicial performance.
However, we can’t do it alone – we need your continued support; via your comments (Sound Off!) and, yes, your contributions. Freedom isn’t free -nor is it always easy to be a Citizen, not a subject.
Ultimately, though – it’s worth the effort.
Another One Bites the Dust? Unpopular ‘Amazon Tax’ may be 3rd of the “Dirty Dozen” tax increases to be repealed this year
“No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.” – Mark Twain (1866)
Occasionally, however, the legislature can succeed in undoing previous acts putting one’s life, liberty, or property at risk…
State legislators made some progress this week towards repealing another one of last year’s “Dirty Dozen” tax increases (which exploited a Colorado Supreme Court ruling to take more of your money without asking, as is required under the Colorado Constitution). Last month, the legislature made progress towards “Cleaning up the ‘Dirty Dozen’ tax increases” with repeal of last year’s Ag tax increase, HB10-1195, Suspend Ag Sales & Use Tax Exemption (Ferrandino/Heath), and downloaded software tax increase, (HB 10-1192, Sales and Use Tax of Standardized Software (Pommer/Heath)).
The “Dirty Dozen” was the name given to a package of twelve legislative bills which sought to increase tax revenues by eliminating existing tax credits or exemptions – an end-run around the constitutional requirement (in Article X, Section 20 – colloquially known as the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR) for “voter approval in advance for… any new tax, tax rate increase, or… tax policy change directly causing a net tax revenue gain to any district.”
Last year’s legislative majorities (Democrats dominated both chambers of the state General Assembly) were emboldened in their assault on the constitutional rights (and wallets) of Colorado citizens by an interpretation of the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling in the notorious “Mill Levy Tax Freeze” case (another unconstitutional tax increase, sanctioned by the court under the pretense that a rate “freeze” which collects more revenue doesn’t count as a tax increase for triggering that pesky constitutional requirement to receive “voter approval in advance”). Solid legislative majorities, a compliant governor, and a complicit supreme court allowed them to take a bigger bite of your money without first (or ever) asking for permission.
Since the 2010 elections resulted in a shift of control of one legislative chamber (the state House of Representatives) and many members of the new majority campaigned on a promise to seek the repeal of these unconstitutional tax increases, progress towards the elimination of any one of these unconstitutional (and economy-killing) tax increases is welcome news.
The bill to repeal the ‘Amazon Tax’ (HB 11-1318, Notification of Use Taxes) co-sponsored by Reps. Amy Stephens (R-Monument) and Sue Schaffer (D-Wheat Ridge) repeals last year’s HB 10-1193, Sales Tax Out of State Retailers (Pommer/Heath), particularly the onerous, intrusive, and unconstitutional requirement for out-of-state retailers to divulge customer information to the state, while maintaining a requirement for out-of-state retailers to notify Colorado customers of their ‘obligation’ to pay state use taxes.
While enforcement of this requirement may prove difficult from a practical standpoint (the authority of the Colorado legislature to regulate businesses from out of state may rest on rather tenuous legal grounds), it does at least remove the requirement that retailers rat your out – which gave rise to the predicted (inevitable, really) court challenge to the law.
The ‘Amazon Tax’ repeal bill was swiftly and overwhelmingly approved in the House (on a 58-6 bipartisan vote) and is scheduled to be voted on in the Senate this week, where it is likely to pass (albeit less overwhelmingly) since the ‘Amazon Tax’ law has been blocked in Federal court since January.
NONE of the “Dirty Dozen” tax bills would have seen the light of day if not for last year’s legislature’s exploitation of a Colorado Supreme Court ruling to bypass the Colorado Constitution’s requirement to receive “voter approval in advance for… any new tax, tax rate increase, or… tax policy change directly causing a net tax revenue gain to any district.”
Still, it’s good to see “another one bite the dust.”
Clear The Bench Colorado will, with your support, continue to promote transparency and accountability in the Colorado judiciary, informing the public to increase awareness of the substantial public policy implications of an unrestrained activism and political agendas in the courts. We will continue to work to educate voters and provide information of relevance related to the judicial branch, and to provide useful and substantive evaluations of judicial performance.
However, we can’t do it alone – we need your continued support; via your comments (Sound Off!) and, yes, your contributions. Freedom isn’t free -nor is it always easy to be a Citizen, not a subject.
Ultimately, though – it’s worth the effort.