VAIL, Colo.—Eagle County Commissioner Peter Runyon is proposing a tax on ski-lift tickets to help pay for roads, work in the forests or employee housing.
Runyon is suggesting a statewide use tax on the tickets and has asked Colorado Counties Inc., a lobbying group, to push a provision allowing counties to levy the tax.
Lift tickets are exempt from sales taxes, but should be subject to some kind of taxation, Runyon said Thursday.
“Exempting the ski industry from sales tax was put forward in the ’60s when the ski industry was very small and the state Legislature wanted to encourage and promote it,” Runyon said. “I would argue that the ski industry is very much on its feet and has probably grown a few extra feet.”
Voters would have to approve a new tax.
A call left with the trade group Colorado Ski Country USA wasn’t immediately returned Saturday.
Runyon said some of the state’s transportation’s needs are tied to the ski industry because many of the resorts are along Interstate 70. He said the tax would be similar to the town of Vail’s ski area admissions tax.
The Vail tax generated $3 million last year, town Finance Director Judy Camp said. The tax was lumped into the posted cost of lift tickets, which reached $90 for a single day last year at Vail Mountain.
Lift tickets and passes are not subject to local, county and state sales taxes because they are not tangible property, Camp said.
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Information from: Vail Daily,
