{"id":48,"date":"2026-05-08T11:03:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T11:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=48"},"modified":"2026-05-08T11:03:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T11:03:32","slug":"colorado-bill-exempting-sales-tax-from-credit-card-swipe-fees-advances-to-governor-after-big-capitol-showdown-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=48","title":{"rendered":"Colorado bill exempting sales tax from credit card swipe fees advances to governor after big Capitol showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A proposal to reduce credit card swipe fees has whipped up a frothy, multi-million-dollar lobbying fight at the State Capitol this year, pitting the banking industry against retailers, restaurants and other businesses. It passed the legislature Wednesday and now heads to the governor\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n

Read more Are funeral pyres legal in Colorado?<\/a><\/p>\n

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This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Senate Bill 134 concerns the interchange fees, or swipe fees, that merchants pay to the banks every time a customer pays with a credit card. Currently, those fees are calculated as a percentage of the total charge, sales tax and all. The proposal, which passed the House on a 44-20 vote, would remove sales taxes from the equation, basing swipe fees only on the underlying purchase.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a merchant takes a credit card from a consumer and processes that card, they should not have to pay fees on the local or state taxes that they are collecting from that customer,\u201d said Democratic House Speaker Julie McCluskie of Dillon, a main sponsor of the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will continue to pay a swipe fee on the bulk of the purchase, whether it was a meal, a new coat, a pair of shoes, but they will not have to pay an interchange fee any longer on the taxes they collect,\u201d McCluskie said, adding that the measure will help struggling local businesses, saving them thousands of dollars each year on credit card fees.<\/p>\n

The restaurant and retail industries have lined up to support the legislation, saying they will provide economic relief to small businesses without raising prices for consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cRestaurants have been begging our legislature and the governor for financial relief for years, and this bill would provide them with real savings,\u201d said Sonia Riggs, president and CEO of the Colorado Restaurant Association.<\/p>\n

Backers also point to a moral case for the proposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a community wants to raise sales taxes to support affordable housing or a new fire station or mental health facility, that should not mean increased profits for credit card companies and smaller profits for businesses in that community,\u201d said Joshua Mantel, director of government affairs for the Bell Policy Center, testifying at a committee hearing in support of the proposal.<\/p>\n

But the banking industry is pushing back hard against a bill that would cut into their profits. <\/p>\n

They point to a related Illinois law now entangled in litigation and say a similar legal morass would unfold in Colorado should the bill be signed into law here. They also argue it would be too complicated to alter their nationwide payment systems to isolate sales tax out of swipe fees in just one state.<\/p>\n

\u201cColorado represents only roughly 2% of the transactions nationwide,\u201d said Jenifer Waller, CEO of the Colorado Bankers Association. \u201cIt\u2019s the expense of changing that system that\u2019s really prompting our opposition.\u201d<\/p>\n

The banks just might decline to make that investment altogether, Waller said, which would create a confusing and inconvenient situation in Colorado.<\/p>\n

Read more Nearly half of Coloradans experiencing food insecurity don\u2019t qualify for SNAP<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe impact to consumers would be potentially two transactions for each purchase that has tax,\u201d Waller said. \u201cOne to pay for the tax in cash, one to put the main transaction on your card.\u201d<\/p>\n

The specter of that scenario has been repeated in online ads<\/strong> paid for by the Electronic Payments Coalition<\/strong>, a banking industry group. In March, that organization spent a staggering $4.5 million on online advertising, including more than $600,000 on Facebook and Instagram to drum up popular opposition to the bill, according to publicly available<\/strong> data from the platforms\u2019 parent company, Meta.<\/p>\n

Opponents also note that since credit card rewards are largely funded through swipe fees, those popular programs would be affected.<\/p>\n

\u201cBanks would be forced to slash reward programs on their credit cards,\u201d said Chris Sununu, president and CEO of Airlines for America, an industry group opposing the bill. \u201cThose points programs, whether they have to do with airlines or hotels, those are now all at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, Gov. Jared Polis has kept his intentions close to the vest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Governor will review the final version of the bill, including all amendments if it reaches his desk, while considering the impact of national regulations,\u201d said spokesperson Eric Maruyama in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n

But that hasn\u2019t stopped the banking industry from taking their concerns to his office door. Waller confirmed that her group will seek a meeting with the governor in a last-ditch effort to sway him toward a veto.<\/p>\n

A similar bill seeking broader limits on swipe fees was defeated in a Senate committee hearing last year.<\/p>\n

Some opponents have argued that the big-box stores, not local mom-and-pop ventures, stand to reap the lion\u2019s share of the proposal\u2019s economic benefits. Indeed, lobbying support from retail giants Walmart and Target has raised eyebrows and fed suggestions that it all boils down to Big Banking versus Big Retail.<\/p>\n

But small business owners like Mas Torito, whose family owns Kokoro, a pair of fast-casual Japanese restaurants in the Denver metro area, say they\u2019re the ones asking for the legislation. Between his two locations, Torito expects the measure could save his business about $20,000 a year in fees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a part-time employee. That\u2019s an extra piece of kitchen equipment,\u201d Torito said. \u201cYes, your big box operators will benefit. But people use their credit cards at every business that they go to, whether it\u2019s for retail shopping or restaurants. So all of us stand to benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

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This story was produced by the Capitol News Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC News, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS, and The Colorado Sun, with support from news outlets throughout the state. Startup funding for the Alliance was provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.<\/p>\n

Read more Colorado\u2019s wolf reintroduction hits \u201cinflection point\u201d as program leader steps down, population dwindles and conflicts increase<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colorado legislators pass a bill exempting sales taxes from credit card swipe fee calculations, setting up a clash with credit card companies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\nColorado bill exempting sales tax from credit card swipe fees advances to governor after big Capitol showdown - Colorado Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=48\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colorado bill exempting sales tax from credit card swipe fees advances to governor after big Capitol showdown - 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