Colorado Supreme Court Voids City of Lakewood’s Telecom Tax Ordinances Under TABOR

The Colorado Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s judgment that two municipal ordinances violated the state’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). The case centered on ordinances enacted in 1996 and 2015 that expanded a city’s business and occupation tax on telecommunications services without obtaining voter approval. The court determined that both ordinances constituted new taxes under TABOR because they expanded the scope of taxation to previously untaxed services and providers, generating new revenue that was not merely incidental to the legislation’s purpose. Consequently, the court ruled that voter approval was required before enacting the ordinances, and since such approval was ...