Tracking what's destroying Colorado
A curated collection of bills, news, and resources about Colorado politics and policy
A curated collection of bills, news, and resources about Colorado politics and policy
Signed into law during the August 2025 special session, HB 25B-1001 permanently eliminates Colorado’s state-level Qualified Business Income (QBI) deduction for pass-through entities (LLCs, S-corps, partnerships, sole proprietors) earning over certain thresholds, adding back the federal 20% QBI break to taxable income. What was supposed to be a phased-in tax cut for small and medium-sized businesses—promised when Colorado conformed to the 2017 TCJA—has now been retroactively turned into a $46 million annual tax increase starting in tax year 2025. The revenue helps plug a budget hole created by federal tax conformity, but instead of raising rates (which would trigger TABOR voter approval), Democrats simply yanked a deduction businesses were already counting on, proving once again that “temporary” tax relief in Colorado has the lifespan of a fruit fly when the state needs cash.
This is straight-up theft dressed up as “fairness.” Democrats waited until small-business owners had structured their entire financial lives around a legal, voter-approved tax break—the state QBI deduction that mirrored the federal 20% cut—then swooped in during a six-day special-session ambush and snatched it away faster than you can say “bait-and-switch.” These are the exact entrepreneurs who create 70% of Colorado jobs—your local plumber, contractor, brewery owner, dentist—just got a $46 million middle finger while Polis grinned and signed it.
They refuse to call it a tax hike because that would trigger TABOR voter approval, so instead they hide behind bureaucratic garbage and pretend killing a deduction isn’t raising taxes. News flash: it is. This isn’t “closing a loophole”; it’s punishing success to fund more government bloat while virtue-signaling about “equity.” If you own a pass-through business in Colorado, congratulations—your reward for building the economy is now a bigger check to Denver every April 15.
Absolute clown-show governance from a party that claims to care about “working families” but has zero problem mugging the people who actually employ them. Welcome to Taxachusetts-on-the-Rockies.