Op-Ed: Yes on 120

(Sentinel Colorado) This November, Colorado voters can decide whether to reduce our property taxes – benefiting both homeowners and small businesses across the entire state. Proposition 120 gives voters the opportunity to approve a $1 billion tax reduction, which will specifically help our disabled veterans and seniors by boosting the state’s Homestead Exemption Fund by $25 million, helping keep these valued community members in their homes.

The measure reduces the multifamily residential property tax assessment rate from 7.15 percent to 6.5 percent, as well as tax assessment rates for commercial property, including lodging, hotels and motels, from 29 percent to 26.5 percent. For small businesses and multifamily housing properties, many of which were hit hard by eviction bans and delays in rental assistance funding, the out-of-control rise in property taxes could mean unsustainable rent increases just to make property tax payments.

When voters approved a repeal of the property tax assessment formula known as the Gallagher Amendment in 2020, it left the state without any checks on skyrocketing residential and commercial property tax rates. Voting yes on Prop 120 will help everyone across Colorado keep more of their hard-earned money, especially those who rent rather than own their own homes. Cutting property taxes by approving Prop 120 would help make rent more affordable because property owners include the cost of property taxes in the cost of rent.

More than 70% of the rental properties in the Denver Metro Area are 7 units or fewer. This property tax cut is necessary to help these property owners keep up with the rising cost of goods and services, particularly as property values continue to rise and the cost of living increases as well. This last year, our members reported an average 10 percent increase in wages for maintenance and other service staff in order to keep up with increased wages across the labor market.

This Op-Ed was written by Drew Hamrick and published at Sentinel Colorado. Read it in its entirety here. Note: Title changed by Mile High Evening News.