NFIB business-fees case heads back to court
DENVER, March 2, 2017 -- The Colorado Court of Appeals today remanded a lawsuit from the National Federation of Independent Business that questions whether the Colorado Legislature can continue its longstanding practice of using business-filing fees to fund elections.
The court reversed the summary judgment of the trial court in favor of the state, and directed the Colorado Secretary of State's office to compile information about any fee increases the office implemented since the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights went into effect on Dec. 31, 1992.
Since Wayne Williams became secretary of state in 2015, fees have either been lowered or stayed the same.
"My office will work to provide the court with the necessary information," Williams said today. "But researching 25 years of data is expected to take time."
NFIB filed the lawsuit in 2014 against then-Secretary of State Scott Gessler, arguing that the amount of fees collected when businesses file documents should only cover costs associated with regulating business operations. Using the money to cover election costs makes the fees a tax, which must be voted on under TABOR rules, the NFIB maintained.
The state countered that the nearly $22.5 million in business filing fees it collects annually is not a tax. A Denver District Court judge in November 2015 ruled that that the Secretary of State's use of the fees was established before voters approved TABOR in 1992 and was constitutional. The NFIB appealed the ruling the following month.
