Colorado Supreme Court finds Lakewood unconstitutionally expanded phone provider tax

Reposted from Michael Karlik, on ColoradoPolitics.com

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Lakewood improperly expanded the scope of a 1969 tax ordinance twice to encompass cell phone providers without holding the popular vote the state constitution requires.

A Jefferson County judge previously determined the city’s actions failed to comply with the 1992 Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which generally requires voters to approve any new tax or tax rate increase. Lakewood appealed to the Supreme Court with a policy argument: Local governments need to be able to reinterpret their laws to encompass emerging and unforeseen variations on things that are already taxed.

But the justices brushed aside that contention, noting the city’s modifications swept in new entities who would not otherwise be subject to the tax specifically intended to cover traditional telephone providers.

“The Lakewood City Council could have drafted the 1969 Ordinance to enact a tax on the business and occupation of providing telecommunications services, but it did not do so,” wrote Justice Richard L. Gabriel in the Sept. 8 opinion.

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