Two to One Vote to Eliminate Business Personal Property Tax
At the Board of County Commissioners Sept. 18 public hearing, the board voted two to one to eliminate the General Fund Business Personal Property Tax (BPPT). Commissioners Libby Szabo and Tina Francone voted yes, and Commissioner Casey Tighe voted no for this change.
Personal property includes equipment, machinery and furniture used at a business. After personal property is purchased, it gets taxed each year until it is discarded. The assessment rate of 29 percent is applied against its value to get the assessed value and then the tax rate (mills) from each taxing authority (same as real property) is applied. Ninety percent of BPPT payers pay less than $1,000, ten percent pay between $1,000 and greater than $100,000 per year.
In 2019, the mill levy for the county general fund will not be applied for BPPT and will be reflected as such on that portion of businesses’ tax bills. However, BPPT was only eliminated for the county’s general fund, and BPPT will still have to be paid for other funds and entities, such as public schools and special districts. This applies to all size businesses.
"Businesses are taxed at higher rates than residential properties, and the elimination of the BPPT is one tool to help reduce costs for doing business in Jeffco to help encourage businesses to relocate or stay here,” said Commissioner Libby Szabo, who brought this initiative forward.
“I appreciate those who came forward advocating for business but eliminating this tax will result in most of the tax credit going to fewer than ten businesses in Jeffco. I believe this discussion, and any tax adjustments, should have occurred during the overall county mill levy and county budget actions that will be occurring in the next few weeks,” said Commissioner Casey Tighe.
The county was estimating approximately $7.7 million in BPPT would be received in 2019. In future BCC public meetings, there will be discussions regarding the impact of this decision on the county budget. To find out about future meeting dates for the commissioners, visit the commissioner's meeting page. You can also watch the video of the Sept. 18 hearing.