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Dan Pilcher
CACI Senior Vice President
& Chief Operating Officer
Phone: 303.866.9600
E-Mail:
dpilcher@cochamber.com
Friday, January 29, 2010
House Finance Committee Approves Four More Tax Bills, Sends Them
to House Floor
Today, in a session that began at 8 a.m., the House Finance
Committee amended and approved on a party-line, six-to-five vote
four tax bills on its agenda:
·
HB-1195 Suspend agricultural sales and use tax exemption
·
HB-1196 Eliminate certain alternative-fuel cars qualified for
tax credit
·
HB-1197 Reduce the cap on conservation easements
·
HB-1199 Three-year limit on net-operating-loss (NOL)
carry-forward to $250,000
The Committee killed, however, one bill: HB-1198, which would
have suspended the alternative minimum-tax credit.
During the marathon session that began Wednesday afternoon and
ended about 2:30 a.m. Thursday morning, the Committee amended
and approved on a six-to-five party-line vote the following six
tax bills:
·
HB-1189 Eliminate sales tax exemption for direct mail
·
HB-1190 Two-year suspension of exclusion of energy for
industrial and manufacturing use
·
HB-1191 Eliminate tax exemption on candy and soda sales
·
HB-1192 Sales and use tax on standardized software
·
HB-1193 Sales tax on out-of-state retailers
·
HB-1194 Eliminate sales tax exemption on nonessential materials
Visit the legislature’s Web site for the latest version of the
amended bills:
http://www.leg.state.co.us/
The House went into floor session this afternoon to take up the
tax bills on Second Reading, during which legislators can debate
the bills and offer amendments. To watch and listen to the
debate, click on:
http://coloradohouse.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=2
One business tax bill, HB-1200, which concerns the business
investment tax credit in enterprise zones, remains in the House
Appropriations Committee.
Again, CACI wishes to thank its members who showed up over the
last three days to testify before the House Finance Committee.
CACI will continue to oppose the bills that it considers bad for
business as they move on to the next phase of the legislative
process.
CACI members with questions about the bills should contact Loren
Furman, CACI Vice President of Governmental Affairs at
303.866.8642 or via e-mail at
lfurman@COchamber.com
Remembering the 2009 Legislative Session: the Business
Contribution to the State Budget
One argument being made at the statehouse concerns the so-called
sacrifice that the Governor and majority-party legislators are
asking that various groups share--including the business
community--as the legislature struggles to balance the current
year budget that ends June 30th and build the
2010—2011 budget that begins July 1st.
That said, it’s worth remembering that the business community
last year “contributed” $124.2 million in additional taxes and
foregone fees to help the legislature balance the budget:
·
Elimination of the retail vendors’ fee allowance for collecting
and remitting the state sales tax, $12.5 million;
·
Transfer from the Workers Compensation Cash Fund, $15.7 million
·
Transfer from the Workers’ Comp Subsequent Injury Fund, $26.5
million
·
Transfer from the Workers’ Comp Major Medical Insurance Fund,
$69.5 million
For FY 2010-2011, the state’s retailers will lose $37.4 million
because the elimination of the vendor’s fee allowance was for
two years.
CACI Creates Business Health-Care Coalition
CACI’s lobbying team has spearheaded an effort to coordinate
discussion with CACI members and other business organizations
regarding health-care issues being proposed at the
legislature. The coalition includes representatives from such
CACI members as Rocky Mountain Health Plans, Anthem Blue Cross
Blue Shield, United Health Plans, the Colorado State Association
of Health Underwriters, and the Colorado Association of Health
Plans.
The coalition met recently at the Colorado State Capitol to
discuss health-care bills that have been introduced. CACI will
continue to bring representatives of the health-care industry
and businesses together for these discussions to make sure that
the voice of Colorado business is represented in the health-care
debate. For more information on CACI’s work on health-care
legislation, contact Dan Anglin, CACI Governmental Affairs
Representative, at 303.866.9641 or via e-mail at
danglin@COchamber.com
Upcoming CACI Council Meetings
Council meetings will be held at the CACI Office beginning at 12
Noon. Council members who would like to sponsor lunches for
Council meetings should contact Misty Fox, CACI Office Manager,
at 303.866-9652 or via e-mail at
mfox@COchamber.com
·
Tax Council,
Friday, February 5th, and the guests are
Representative Joel Judd (D-Denver), Chair, House Finance
Committee, and Senator Paula Sandoval (D-Denver), Chair,
Senate Finance Committee; lunch sponsored by David Rivera,
Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold, Inc., whose Web site is:
www.fmi.com
·
Governmental Affairs Council,
Tuesday, February 9th; lunch sponsored by Chris Howes,
The Howes Group, whose Web site is:
www.chrishowes.com
·
Energy and Environment Council,
Thursday, February 11th; lunch sponsored by John
Jacus, Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP, whose Web site is:
www.dgslaw.com
·
HealthCare Council,
Thursday, February 18th; lunch sponsored by David
Rivera, Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold, Inc., whose Web site
is:
www.fmi.com
·
Governmental Affairs Council,
Tuesday, February 23rd; lunch sponsored by Marie
Patterson, AngloGold Ashanti N.A., whose website is:
www.anglogold.com
·
Labor and Employment Council,
Wednesday, February 24th; lunch sponsored by Mark
Moses, Outback Steakhouse, whose website is:
www.outback.com
For the complete meeting schedule of CACI Councils during the
legislative session, please visit the CACI Web site:
http://www.cochamber.com/newsandevents_calendar.asp
Follow CACI on Twitter
The CACI
Governmental Affairs Team is updating followers via Twitter:
CACI Vice
President of Membership, Dave Tabor, offers less
politically-adept Tweets at:
http://www.twitter.com/DaveTabor |
