Amendment R – Exempt Possessory Interests in Real Property

People or businesses that use government land or other property for private profit have a possessory interest and are currently required to pay property tax on the possessory interest. Some possessory interests are quite large, such as ski resorts. Others are small and the administrative expenses associated with collecting the tax exceed the tax.

This amendment would exempt possessory interests from property taxes if the benefit received by the possessory interest is less than $6000 per year. On a $6000 benefit, the maximum tax payment is currently $120. The exemption would start in 2012 and would be adjusted every two years for inflation.

Recommendation: yes

This ballot issue is touted as an efficiency measure which I generally greatly favor. I wonder why, though, the Blue Book doesn’t anticipate any reduction in staff and only a possibility of minor cost savings. The cattle grazers seem to be the biggest beneficiaries of this measure. School district funding lost from decreased property taxes will have to be backfilled by the state, but the general assembly, who has to balance the budget – painful as it may be sometimes - is in favor of this measure so I will support it.


Approved Ballot Language

Amendment R (CONSTITUTIONAL)

SHALL THERE BE AN AMENDMENT TO SECTION 3 (1) (b) OF ARTICLE X OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF COLORADO, CONCERNING AN EXEMPTION FROM PROPERTY TAXATION FOR A POSSESSORY INTEREST IN REAL PROPERTY IF THE ACTUAL VALUE OF THE INTEREST IS LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS OR SUCH AMOUNT ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION?

Yes _____ No _____


Full text of House Resolution 10-1005 referring Amendment R
CO Constitution, Article X, Section 3 (changes)
Uniform taxation - exemptions
http://www.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2010A/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/D73FEC158A32B217872576A80026B9CC?Open&file=HCR1005_enr.pdf