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Colorado Chamber Supports Employee Home-Buying Tax Credit Legislation

For media inquiries, please contact Cynthia Meyer at [email protected].

DENVER – The Colorado Chamber of Commerce today announced its support of House Bill 1189, which would create a state income tax credit for businesses that financially assist with an employee’s purchase of a primary residence.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Shannon Bird, Rep. Ron Weinberg and Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, would incentivize employers to financially contribute to employee down payments, closing costs and other qualifying expenses related to purchasing a home. The Colorado Chamber’s government affairs policy council unanimously voted in support the proposal at its Tuesday meeting as it aligns with the chamber’s 2023 legislative priority to attract and retain workers in Colorado.

“In our surveys and conversations with business leaders in Colorado, cost of living and lack of housing affordability are frequently mentioned as some of the most pressing employee recruitment and retention concerns,” said Meghan Dollar, senior vice president of governmental affairs for the Colorado Chamber. “Employers are invested in finding solutions to our housing needs, and this legislation will be a valuable tool to help enable home ownership across the state. A problem of this scope requires a combination of innovative policy approaches and we applaud this bipartisan effort to both make it easier purchase a home and create a new recruitment tool for business.”

Housing affordability has been a key focus of the Colorado Chamber’s advocacy efforts this year. Dollar recently testified in favor of SB 1, a chamber-supported bill that would encourage public-private partnerships in affordable housing development.

Colorado’s housing market is one of the most expensive in the nation, with the median sales price of a single-family home at $520,000 statewide. The state’s housing market has been ranked the 46th least affordable in the U.S.

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The Colorado Chamber of Commerce champions free enterprise, a healthy business environment and economic prosperity for all Coloradans. It is the only business association that works to improve the business climate for all sizes of business from a statewide, multi-industry perspective. What the Colorado Chamber accomplishes is good for all businesses, and that’s good for the state’s economy. It was created in 1965 based on the merger with the Colorado Manufacturers’ Association.