But not in Colorado — where metro Denver’s suburban counties helped power former Vice President Joe Biden to a statewide victory that more than doubled Hillary Clinton’s 5-percentage-point margin over now-President Trump in 2016.

Biden led Trump statewide 55% to 42% on Friday afternoon, a 13-point margin, though outstanding ballots could change it slightly. In Arapahoe, Adams, Broomfield, Jefferson and Douglas counties, an average margin for Clinton of 5 percentage points four years ago — on par with the statewide margin — grew to an eye-popping 15.6 percentage points for Biden that outpaced the rest of Colorado, according to a Denver Post analysis of election results.

Take out Douglas, a more right-leaning county that supported Trump by more than 6 percentage points, and the other four counties broke for Biden by nearly 21 points, led by Broomfield at 27 points.

Some of that shift is due to this year’s lack of high-profile third-party candidates, who ate into Clinton’s margin in 2016. The former secretary of state also was a more polarizing Democratic nominee than Biden would end up being.

But the leftward march of Denver’s suburbs, while predating Trump, has only accelerated in the last four years. The suburban counties are growing fast, they’re diversifying, and they’re full of the kind of white-collar workers who have turned sharply against the president.

The 2018 midterm election, in which unaffiliated voters delivered a blowout for Colorado Democrats, had prompted a warning by local Republican pollster David Flaherty: More pain was coming for the state GOP in 2020, when Trump would actually be on the ballot.

What he couldn’t have predicted then was a pandemic in an election year that deepened divides even more.

“In Colorado, (the Trump factor) is not a winner — we’re not a Midwestern state,” where blue-collar voters provide a counter-current for the president, said Flaherty, the founder of Louisville-based Magellan Strategies, on Thursday. “There’s simply very little Republicans could have done this cycle because of the sheer math of the turnout.”

Indeed, a new poll of 900 voters who cast ballots in Colorado’s election shows several dynamics drove support for Biden, including some that are key to the suburbs. Biden led Trump by 25 percentage points among unaffiliated voters, by 23 points among voters younger than 44, by 51 points among Latino voters and by 24 points among white college-educated voters.

The poll included a sample representative of Colorado’s voter turnout and was conducted Oct. 31 to Nov. 4 by Democratic polling firm Global Strategy Group for ProgressNow Colorado, a liberal advocacy group, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Republicans lose local offices

Colorado’s rejection of Trump had big down-ballot consequences. U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner lost Tuesday to Democratic former Gov. John Hickenlooper, trailing by 8.8 percentage points in the latest returns.

In Arapahoe and Jefferson counties, both former swing counties, a handful of Republican state legislators managed to survive close races — but the party’s loss of local elected offices continued.

“When I came to the commission in 2015, there was one elected Democrat in the county government,” recalled Jefferson County Commissioner Libby Szabo. “When I leave in January 2021, there will be one elected Republican, and that will be the sheriff.”

Szabo lost her bid for reelection on Tuesday to Democrat Tracy Kraft-Tharp, a term-limited state representative, by 8 percentage points. She takes solace in the fact that she outperformed Trump, who lost to Biden in Jeffco by nearly 19 percentage points. But now all three county commissioners will be Democrats.

In Arapahoe County, voters flipped the county commission from a 3-2 Republican majority to a 3-2 Democratic edge — which would grow to 4-1 in the event of a loss by another Republican incumbent who’s on the ropes. But that commissioner led his Democratic challenger by 162 votes as of Friday afternoon.

In the 18th Judicial District attorney’s race, which includes Arapahoe and Douglas counties, another partisan flip had looked possible for a Republican-held office. After Democratic candidate Amy Padden initially led by a slim margin, however, she trailed Republican John Kellner by 1,551 votes Friday. A winner had not been declared.

The Republican brand has suffered under Trump, unaffiliated voter Tom Skarbowski suggested, but he puts the blame on the general direction of the party in recent years. He lives in a subdivision in unincorporated Arapahoe County and has voted for candidates from both parties, including Gardner in 2014 — though he later protested outside Gardner’s office.

“(Trump) set the tone and everybody else has followed,” said Skarbowski, 66. “It����ap the old saying, ‘The buck stops here.’ He’s taken over the whole GOP.”

Even if Trump ceases to dominate the party, he said, “I think it would take several cycles before they would get the confidence back again.”

Other dynamics boosted Biden

The Post’s analysis found that Biden’s outperformance of Clinton’s 2016 margin by 8 percentage points was driven by shifts toward the Democratic presidential candidate in 50 of the state’s 64 counties. But the Denver area’s suburban counties stand out, since four of them ranked among the state’s top six for number of ballots returned.

The largest gain was in tiny San Juan County, where Biden improved on Clinton’s margin by 15 percentage points.

Besides the suburban counties, Biden stocked up on votes in other types of counties:

• • Large liberal powerhouses, including Denver, where the Democratic presidential margin increased by about 10 percentage points, and Boulder, where it increased by 9.
  • Tourism-heavy mountain counties, including Summit (12.1-point gain), Gunnison (11.5-point gain) and San Miguel (10.7-point gain).
  • Reliably red counties won by Trump, but by narrower margins this time. The Democratic deficit shrank by 11.5 percentage points in El Paso, by 10.9 in Douglas, by 8.9 in Mesa and by 4.2 in Weld.
  • Three counties that swung from Trump in 2016 to the Democrat this time — Chaffee (11.3 points), Garfield (9.2) and Pueblo (2.3). In Latino- and blue-collar-heavy Pueblo County, Trump won by 0.5 percentage points in 2016, but Biden led Friday by 1.8 points.

A permanent realignment?

In releasing the Global Strategy Group’s new poll, called The Rocky Mountaineer, the pollsters characterized the suburban counties’ significant Democratic shifts as likely enduring.

“These white-collar suburbs are no longer swing areas as they actually went about as strongly for Biden as El Paso and Douglas counties did for (Republican nominee Mitt) Romney in 2012,” wrote Andrew Baumann and Stephen Riggs.

Arapahoe County Democratic Party Chair Kristin Mallory hopes that’s true.

She gives Trump credit for mobilizing Democrats and unaffiliated voters in opposition to him, but she says the area’s demographic changes and growth have changed the political makeup even more. She said the local party also has developed a more coordinated approach to campaigning.

“For all intents and purposes, Arapahoe County is pretty dang blue,” Mallory said.

Szabo, the defeated Jeffco commissioner, also isn’t convinced Trump is the only factor in the growing Democratic margins on her side of the metro area.

But Flaherty predicts that Republicans’ prospects may improve in Colorado, including in the suburbs, when Trump is out of the national picture.

Without Trump’s presence, coming state legislative sessions dominated by Democrats and a redistricting process set to play out next year could alter some of Colorado’s political dynamics, Flaherty said.

“All those things do point to a brighter day for Republicans to pick themselves up and dust themselves off and make a case for why their solutions are perhaps better for Coloradans than 100% Democratic management,” he said. “They won’t have to cringe from a tweet or a statement from Donald Trump.”

Colorado Democrats made further inroads in toward turning the state a deeper shade of blue, winning voters’ approval on several big policy questions while flipping more local suburban Denver offices held by Republicans.

But while Colorado voters leaned left to create a paid family and medical leave program, they stayed true to their fiscal conservatism in . They approved a small income tax cut and were favoring, by a small margin, a measure that aims to put more fiscal handcuffs on officials by requiring voter approval for large new fees, as is already required for tax increases under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.

On the whole, voters went big for the Democrats — even more so than in 2016 — and built on gains they made in the 2018 election, when suburban voters flipped several lower-profile county offices long held by Republicans.

In Tuesday’s election, voters backed former Vice President Joe Biden for the White House and sent former Gov. John Hickenlooper to the U.S. Senate. He ousted Republican Sen.�� Cory Gardner, as of 11:30 p.m. Biden’s margin over President Donald Trump was more than 14 percentage points, expanding Hillary Clinton’s 5-point margin over Trump four years ago.

Still, the national presidential outcome was unclear late in the evening. And those margins for Biden and Hickenlooper could tighten a bit as more ballots are counted in Colorado, especially since Republicans were more likely to vote on Election Day.

The election brought high voter turnout — higher than any election in Colorado going back at least two decades, if not even longer. About 3.1 million ballots were returned through 5 p.m. Tuesday, two hours before polls closed, according to the Colorado secretary of state’s office. That amounts to nearly 75% of registered voters, and it will rise as final ballots are processed in the coming days. The Associated Press’s projections factored in an expected turnout that would amount to well over 80% of registered voters in Colorado.

Voters approved a tax on tobacco and vaping products and, in a big win for state and local officials, a repeal of the Gallagher Amendment. That 1982 measure complicates property taxes and government budgets by limiting the proportion of taxes that can be assessed on residential properties in relation to commercial properties. Voters also rejected a late-term abortion ban by a large margin. A referendum on whether to join the national popular vote interstate compact, was too close to call late Tuesday but was leaning toward passing.

The closest statewide ballot measure was , which would require the reintroduction of gray wolves in western Colorado. It was leading slightly with 50.1% support as of 11:30 p.m.

Democrats were poised to take control of the University of Colorado’s Board of Regents from Republicans. And they made further inroads in at least two suburban Denver counties.

In Jefferson County, Republican Commissioner Libby Szabo trailed Democratic challenger Tracy Kraft-Tharp, a term-limited state representative, . In Arapahoe County, at least one commissioner seat was flipped from Republican to Democrat, as challenger Carrie Warren-Gully defeated incumbent Kathleen Conti. Another flip was possible in a second race in which Democrat Idris Keith was leading Commissioner Jeff Baker .

In the open , another blue flip was possible, though much more tentative. Democrat Amy Padden Republican John Kellner, 50.1% to 49.9%, with 83% of expected results in. The winner will succeed Republican George Brauchler in the office, which includes Douglas and Arapahoe counties.

Voters across the metro area came out Tuesday under partially cloudy skies and mild temperatures to drop off their ballots and cast their votes in person, following heavy returns of mail ballots in the previous few weeks.

Riley Higgins and Ryan Jett walked their dog as they dropped off their ballots in Sunnyside on Tuesday morning. They voted for Biden, they said, due to a belief that that the former vice president, along with a Democratic Congress, will make better decisions to curb the novel coronavirus pandemic.

They also voted yes on allowing pit bulls in Denver “because if you train them, they’re safe,” Jett said.

In Castle Rock, Nanita Marksberry said she voted a straight GOP ticket.

“I may not love Trump, but I love his policies,” she said. As a born-again believer, Marksberry said abortion was important to her as she described her vote for Proposition 115, the late-term abortion ban that failed.

“The Democratic Party wants to take God out of their platform,” she said.

I’m voting for Tracy Kraft-Tharp for JeffCo Commissioner. I’ve known Tracy Kraft-Tharp for the past eight years through Jeffco Dems while she served as a state House representative. The experience and compassion she has brought to her advocacy in the community, she would bring to us as our commissioner.

With her background in mental health, as a lawyer, plus her eight years in the state House, she listens to all stakeholders. She considers their concerns and combines solutions that treat stakeholders fairly, often in creative ways!

For instance, Tracy has served on the Behavioral Health Task Force, a group made up of legislators, mental health professionals and stakeholders that was created to reform the behavioral health system in Colorado. Tracy not only brought expertise and understanding to the task force, but also the ability to bring Republicans on board to legislation that came out of it, as well as ensuring that constituents got to have a say in the process through numerous public testimony sessions and inviting them to come to task force meetings.

Tracy gets things done. She has the practical leadership qualities we need.

Brenda Bronson, Lakewood

��

Feeding hungry children

Re: “Screaming in hunger,” Oct. 11 news story

One way to help children like the little girls pictured in the article is to sponsor a child through Childfund International.

Sponsored children receive food, medical care, schooling and the whole community benefits.

If those who sponsor a child ask others to sponsor a child, it could increase the number of sponsored children exponentially.

Christa Deutsch, Centennial

Help for teens to stop vaping

Re: Colo. teens haven’t cut back on vaping,” Sept. 28 news story

I read the article with interest and wish it had included important information for young people trying to quit vaping. “My Life, My Quit” is a free program designed to help teens quit vaping nicotine and using other forms of tobacco. Sponsored by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the program was developed by tobacco-cessation experts at National Jewish Health with additional input from teens and experts on adolescent addiction. The specially trained coaches listen and help teens understand how to make healthier choices to build the lives they want to live.

Teens wishing to quit vaping or using tobacco can join nearly 500 other Colorado youth who reached out for help over past year by visiting mylifemyquit.com, or by calling or texting 855-891-9989 to connect with a coach who is ready to listen and cheer them on.

Thomas Ylioja, Denver

Editor’s note: Ylioja is Clinical Director, Health Initiatives Programs at National Jewish Health

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

Of the many business challenges stampeding through Greksa’s mind these days, one has emerged in recent weeks as a major hurdle to reopening: Liability insurance, specifically the lack of available liability insurance coverage for COVID-19. The absence of such coverage could be a real show-stopper for the railroad, Greksa said, as it could for Colorado’s ski industry, its restaurants, theaters, beer halls, and basically any business where employees have direct contact with customers.

Greksa is calling on state lawmakers to take action to insulate businesses like his from lawsuits around the coronavirus-caused disease. It’s becoming clear the insurance industry doesn’t intend to provide that protection.

“I think it’s crucial for the state of Colorado that we take action now,” Greksa said. “Otherwise businesses are going to be very reluctant to reopen and it’s going to be very damaging to our economy.”

The Cañon City-based railroad is looking to buy a $10 million liability insurance policy after its last provider exited the market. A potential new provider recently added an exclusion to its policies when it comes to covering claims related to COVID-19. At least one other insurer the railroad has checked in with was in the process of writing an exclusion of its own.

Greksa has a workers’ compensation policy that he is confident will cover his employees in the event they contract the illness. He’s more concerned about bringing them back to work. Some of the staffers he had to lay off after business shutdowns went into effect in March are now facing evictions or relying on government food assistance. His pared-back staff of 40 is floating on a raft of federal Paycheck Protection Program money that runs out in June.

Without liability coverage, though, the railroad is exposed to lawsuits from potential future passengers related to the virus. Even with expanded cleaning protocols, plans to limit trips to fewer than 300 riders on trains that could accommodate 700 people and other safety measures, it’s a risk Greksa says he can’t afford to take.

“I don’t want to deal with frivolous lawsuits that take time and money,” Greksa said. “When you have an insurance company that won’t cover you, you are flapping out in the breeze and that will put any business out of business.”

Tom Henderson, an attorney with Denver’s Burg Simpson Law Firm who represents policyholders in disputes with insurers, said he’s not surprised to hear of companies moving to build walls in liability policies that exclude COVID-19 coverage.

He speculated that such exclusions could have major impacts on amusement parks, sports franchises and other businesses dependent on bringing masses of people through their gates. He expects that the practice will soon be widespread if it isn’t already.

“I would assume that that type of process is in the works, that insurance companies will come up with a more comprehensively worded exclusion because of the concern that gee, that customer-oriented business might get sued,” he said.

Denver restauranteur Paul Reilly has been vocal about only reopening his businesses when he has a clear picture of what safe operations amid the pandemic. Right now, he is preparing to file applications with the city of Denver to expand outdoor seating for his restaurants, Beast + Bottle and Coperta, in accordance with new guidelines released this week.

He just renewed his liability coverage in February. If COVID-19 were not part of his coverage, “that would seriously change our business plans,” Reilly said. “That sounds like a worrisome scenario.”

Virus and bacteria exclusions are already part of many policies covering business interruption claims, Carole Walker, executive director of industry trade group the Rocky Mountain Insurance Association, said. It’s an industry position that has stuck in the craw of many Colorado business owners, including Greksa, but Walker say the pandemic is a burden large enough to bankrupt the industry or at least leave it unable to cover other natural disasters like wildfires and hail.

The concern around coronavirus liability coverage is large enough that there has been chatter at the federal level about legislation protecting businesses. At least 26 states have already provided liability protection to health care entities and/or first responders, according to research by Walker’s organization. Colorado is not among them.

In Oklahoma, the state Senate last week passed a bill that would protect businesses from lawsuits related to the inadvertent spread of COVID-19, though opponents feel it is too broad, . That measure is now before the state House of Representatives.

“As our businesses are reopening, we need to make them feel secure to do business, especially if they are taking all the right precautions,” Walker said.

The appropriate sources for that security are the state legislature or an emergency order from Gov. Jared Polis, Walker said.

Such a bill may be hard to come by when Colorado’s 2020 legislative session resumes next week. Lawmakers will be focused on addressing a state budget that is now billions of dollars short, school financing shortfalls and other red-alert emergency priorities.

Rep. Tracy Kraft-Tharp, D-Arvada, chairs the Colorado House’s business affairs and labor committee. She has heard from people who would like to see the liability issue addressed by the General Assembly but, at this point, she said she is not planning to introduce a bill on that topic.

For one, the issue is already been looked at the federal level, she said. And she feels the key to restarting the economy is consumer confidence. Insulating businesses for liability around coronavirus, even those businesses that might not be following rules and regulations set forth by state and local health officials, sends the wrong message.

“I don’t see that that right now would increase confidence,” she said.

Signed by Gov. Jared Polis last week, House Bill 1240 takes effect Saturday. The bill, an updated, baked-into-the-Colorado Revised Statutes version of rules originally rolled out by the Department of Revenue last year, makes destination-based sales tax the law in the state.

That means regardless of where a business is located, if it ships products to another city, county or town in Colorado, it is required to calculate, collect and pay the sales taxes for that jurisdiction. That includes accounting for overlapping boundaries and special taxing districts such as RTD.

The rules have been coming for some time. The Department of Revenue was already tinkering with an update to sales tax rules when it was spurred into emergency action by a new federal standard set by the ruling last year.

Two sales tax bills passed in the 2019 session: HB 1240 and Senate Bill 6, which directs the state to find a technology partner to create a simplified “one-stop” online sales tax portal. But many business owners say the laws did nothing to solve their problems.

“In every way, I just think this was so ill-advised and premature,” said Laurie Hessemer, owner of in Denver. “I think they needed to do the infrastructure stuff first. To not have a one-stop place to do your filing and remittance, I think, is incredibly burdensome.”

Casa Verde specializes in environmentally friendly paints, plasters and wood finishes, a niche but growing segment of the home improvement market. It was founded in 2010.

Hessemer, her own bookkeeper, started remitting sales taxes to jurisdictions she ships to in February. She has run into one problem consistently: home-rule cities that do their own tax collections outside of the Department of Revenue. There are 71 in the state, ranging in size from Denver to La Junta, each with its own tax rates and list of what qualifies as taxable.

Under the terms of SB 6, home-rule cities are encouraged to be part of the one-stop portal the state’s information technology office has been tasked with procuring, but they are not required to participate.

In April, Hessemer sold a sample-sized product into the self-collecting home-rule town of Winter Park. The sale earned her $1.60 in profit. She owed $1.38 in taxes, but was told she needed to purchase a $60 business license to pay that. Instead, she plans to stop selling in Winter Park, something she considers a loss for her and for eco-conscious customers there.

Last year, Hessemer moved her website and point-of-sale system to a cloud-based software platform, greatly expanding her online options for customers. She agreed to pay a $1,000 annual licensing fee for the system.

“Now, it feels like that was all something I am going to have to write off and walk away from because of the problem of being unprofitable,” she said.

At Lakewood’s Village Roaster Coffee & Tea, co-owner Eric Bakken said the new tax rules have driven him to look for more over-the-counter retail sales opportunities instead of pushing his beans online.

“I am happy that we have a local business that has local customers, and I am not interested in becoming a statewide e-commerce business, not in the current climate,” said Bakken, who in addition to his roastery operates a cafe at St. Anthony Hospital and sells coffee, tea, wine and beer at the Lakewood Cultural Center.

The Village Roaster does have loyal customers in rural areas that Bakken does want to ship to, he said. With the potential losses he faces making small sales into home-rule cities, he said one accountant told him to skip filing in those places and set some money aside in case of an audit.

“The cost of the constant compliance is so much greater than compliance through penalties … ” he said.

Legislators did write rules to take the pressure off the state’s smallest businesses. Department of Revenue officials this week highlighted that if a business does less than $100,000 in sales in a year, it is exempt from the new rules until a computer system making it easier to assess tax rates is built.

That $100,000 standard is permanent for out-of-state retailers so long as they don’t ship through “marketplace facilitators” such as Amazon or Etsy. Facilitators are required to collect on behalf of brands. The uneven standard, set in a place to conform with the Wayfair decision, is another rule Hessemer said puts her at a disadvantage compared with out-of-state competitors. Casa Verde Paint and Village Roaster both do more than $100,000 in sales per year.

The DOR has put training and information materials on a dedicated website — — to help businesses comply with the rules and has grants to hire four full-time employees that will work specifically on issues.

“We understand that there are going to be challenges initially, so it����ap not going to be something that we are targeting at all,” said Brendon Reese, acting director of the DOR’s taxation division.

For business owners, an easy fix would be to create a single sales tax rate for the state, but because of a knot of rules including the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, such a thing would likely require a statewide election. Stripping home-rule cities of their right to self collect sales tax has also been floated, but that runs afoul of the state constitution, lawmakers and lobbyists.

Tracy Kraft-Tharp, the Democratic state representative who spearheaded both sales tax bills this session and helms the state’s said the legislature could have done more this session, but the two bills brought all sides — including home-rule municipalities — together. Kraft-Tharp, who represents the home-rule cities of Arvada and Westminster, said getting participation in the portal is key.

“What I am hearing from the local municipalities is they have every intention of participating,” Kraft-Tharp said. “It’s not the end all, be all, it’s not the perfect answer, but hopefully it will make things a little better.”

Kevin Bommer, the executive director of the Colorado Municipal League, wasn’t ready to commit. He noted self-collecting municipalities were always operating under a destination-based sales tax system even if not every seller was complying. Now the rest of the state has caught up.

Self-collecting municipalities are seeking assurances that the one-stop system works before jumping on board. They also want to maintain the authority to audit and set their own tax rates, Bommer said.

If it can do all that, “then I think it’s got a real potential to be a solution,” Bommer said. “But that means a lot of people need to roll up their sleeves and make sure it’s done right.”

, dubbed the “Sales and Use Tax Administration” bill, is being co-sponsored in the House by Rep. Tracy Kraft-Tharp, D-Arvada, and Rep. Kevin Van Winkle, R-Highlands Ranch. If passed, it would make a number of changes to the state’s sales tax system.

Most impactful, it would codify a rule change announced by the Colorado Department of Revenue last year that establishes a destination-based sales tax system in the state. Instead of online retailers assessing, collecting and paying the state sales taxes based on taxing jurisdictions they share in common with their customers, the bill would mandate that they collect taxes based on the buyer’s address.

It’s that requirement that has proved controversial: Many small-business owners worry the additional red tape will put them out of business.

In a state featuring a multitude of special taxing districts and entities, as well as home-rule cities that establish their own tax codes, there are about 700 unique sales tax combinations in Colorado, state tax officials say.

RELATED: Colorado sales tax changes: Small-business owners oppose new rules

The bill, as with the Department of Revenue’s 2018 rule change, is motivated in part by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last June that cleared the path for governments to tax retailers who ship goods into their states even if they don’t have a physical presence or other so-called “economic nexus” within their borders.

“I can only find six states that haven’t established some sort of nexus in state law,” Van Winkle said Thursday. “Both Wyoming and Nebraska have bills similar to this that take effect on July 1. Utah, North Dakota, South Dakota and Texas already have passed those bills, and they already are operating under this new tax system.”

Kraft-Tharp has been a crusader for sales tax changes in Colorado. She leads the state’s bipartisan sales tax simplification tax force. She co-sponsored a bill earlier in the 2019 session that gives state officials authority to partner with a software provider to build a one-stop sales tax platform, a tool that would allow retailers to assess and pay taxes online. That bill is scheduled to be signed by Gov. Jared Polis on Friday.

Beyond making the Department of Revenue’s administrative rules state law, there are four other things HB 1240 will do if enacted, per Kraft-Tharp’s comments before the finance committee Thursday.

• Starting June 1, it would mandate that all out-of-state retailers that do a minimum of $100,000 worth of sales in the state in a given year must collect and assess taxes based on where their Colorado buyers live, a threshold consistent with the Supreme Court ruling in South Dakota. Out-of-state retailers who sell less than $100,000 worth of taxable goods in Colorado over the course of a year are exempt from the rule.
• It grants Colorado-based businesses that sell less than $100,000 worth of products a reprieve on performing destination-based tax collections until the state’s online portal or another suitable system is in place. The portal process could take more than a year.
• It requires “marketplace facilitators” such as Amazon, Etsy and other online retail marketplaces to collect and remit taxes on behalf of the business that use their platform. Amazon already does this in the state. This rule would go into effect Oct. 1, Kraft-Tharp said.
• It does away with outdated references to old law on the topic.

The bill has big fans at the Colorado Retail Council, a nonprofit industry trade group representing large retailers. Organization president Chris Howes told the committee, “We are happy to see some fairness coming our way.”

No individual retailers spoke at the hearing but it’s likely some small business may chafe when they read the bill. Many small-business owners have lobbied to be exempt from the destination-based collection rules if they do less than $100,000 in sales in Colorado in a year, the same threshold applied to their out-of-state competitors. Senate Bill 131, a bill also co-sponsored by Van Winkle, would have created that exemption but it was struck down in committee in February.

Kraft-Tharp said that bill would have cost the state and home rule governments a combined $50 million in tax revenue if it passed. She continues to tinker with technical language in HB 1240 to ensure it is clear and doesn’t have unintended consequences for any industry. Her mission, she said, is to strike a balance between all involved.

“We’ve been working with everybody and getting everybody’s input,” she said. “Nobody is 100 percent happy, and nobody is 100 percent unhappy.”

Small business owners concerned about how the collection changes will impact them won’t have to wait long for legislators to act, though they may be less than satisfied with the first step they take.

Rep. Tracy Kraft-Tharp said that, with support from sponsor Sen. Angela Williams, a bill will be introduced in the state Senate on Friday — the first day of the 2019 legislative session — that will authorize the state to move forward finding a software partner to build a one-stop sales tax collection portal.

The aim is to create a platform that would provide business owners with a single point for assessing the state’s 683 unique sales tax combinations. Businesses could also pay the taxes through that portal.

The state is home to 71 home-rule cities that assess and collect their own sales taxes from businesses selling taxable goods and services on their turf. They would be invited to process collections through the portal but would not be required to do so, Kraft-Tharp said.

“I know the bill we are introducing is not the be-all, end-all perfect answer, but it is the sweet spot where we have all been able to come together,” the Arvada Democrat said. “I think it will really make a difference.”

Kraft-Tharp is the chair of the state’s��bipartisan sales and use tax simplification task force. Fellow Democrat Williams is also a member. The bill supporting acquisition of a one-stop portal isn’t a surprise. It has been in the works since last year’s legislative session.��

State tax officials notified business owners in the fall that the state was transitioning to a destination-based sales tax collection system, one that mandates��all local and out-of-state businesses that ship taxable products to buyers in Colorado assess, collect and remit sales taxes based on buyers’ addresses, not the jurisdictions they share in common, as previous rules dictated.

Since that announcement, Kraft-Tharp said she has been pressured by many who want to see the legislature mandate a single, unified sales tax rate for the state, instead of asking business to navigate the complicated network of cities, counties and special taxing districts.

She admits that would be easier, but there are several reasons it isn’t practical. Under the state’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, any tax increase has to be voted on by the people. Since a unified sale tax would drive up taxes in some communities, it would likely face an immediate legal challenge. Also, a unified tax rate would drive down revenues in higher-than-average tax rate jurisdictions, something that could take away from services — such as trash collection, snow removal or public safety — funded by sales tax in those areas. Finally, Kraft-Tharp doesn’t feel it’s the right thing to do.

“The reason we have so many tax rates is we believe in the uniqueness of each community, and we believe that the state government should not tell Lamar, Colo., what do to and how to do it,” Kraft-Tharp said of the state’s home-rule system.

Kevin Bommer, deputy director of the , has another reason why a unified sales tax rate won’t fly in Colorado. As with the TABOR issue, stripping home-rule cities of their ability to set and collect local sales tax would violate the state constitution.

Bommer is also a member of the state’s tax simplification task force. He is for the state procuring a one-stop sales tax platform to make things easier on businesses, but he doesn’t expect home-rule cities to jump on board right away.

Kraft-Tharp noted the platform — even once a provider can be identified and money is appropriated to set it up — may take a year or more to build��and activate. Bommer indicated home-rule cities will take a wait-and-see approach on whether or not that system meets their own needs.

“Home-rule municipalities will have to be convinced that it will work as well as the way they do it now,” he said. “We’ve got a long way to go.”

That’s right. Starting Dec. 1, the will require all retailers who ship goods to a buyer in Colorado to assess, collect and remit sales taxes based on the buyer’s address, not where the business is located or the taxing jurisdictions the buyer and seller share in common. The rules are the same if the retailer is Amazon trucking a book into the state or an independent screen-printing business mailing a T-shirt from Aurora to Pagosa Springs.

And some business owners are worried that the looming wave of red tape could be so burdensome that it will put them out of business.

When all of Colorado’s 344 cities, counties and special taxing entities like RTD are layered over one another, there are 683 possible sales tax combinations in the state. That is a complex web to untangle for one- or two-person shops.

Frank Banta, who runs��, said his promotional clothing and products company got a letter detailing the rule changes Oct. 1. Since then, he has been scrambling to find an accountant and software system that can get him ready to comply.

“There were a lot of feelings,” Banta said of the letter, which is dated Sept. 26. “Going out of business was possibly one of them. So far in October, since the letter has come out, I have pretty much stopped selling stuff and have been working on how to get the problem solved.”

Supreme Court ruling opened door for change

The path to Colorado’s sales tax overhaul was paved by a Supreme Court ruling in June that did away with a standard dictating a business had to have a physical presence in a place to be required to pay sales tax there. That case, , was aimed at getting out-of-state retailers (see: Amazon) to collect and remit local sales tax, but Colorado is coupling new rules for out-of-state sellers with a mandate for in-state retailers do the same.

“We viewed this as an opportunity to bring in-state retailers more in line with statutory requirements,” said��, adding the state’s 1935 sales tax law calls for “a destination-based application of local sales taxes.”

There is a threshold that triggers compliance for out-of-state sellers. Only companies that have processed more than 200 transactions or done $100,000 in sales in Colorado during the current or prior tax year have to collect. No such threshold exists for in-state sellers, Hartman said. They have to comply whether they make 10,000 sales a year or one sale.

Taxing entities have an obvious interest in seeing destination-based collections enforced: gobs of additional revenue. The state’s net sales tax collection for the 2016-2017 fiscal year was $2.72 billion, Department of Revenue officials say. The forecasts the new rules could boost general fund income by $44 million in 2018-2019 and $82 million the following fiscal year.

The Department of Revenue is touting benefits of the new system for in-state retailers. For one, it levels the pricing playing field. Out-of-state companies and in-state competitors will no longer have an advantage over local companies when selling similar products because they will all be adding the same taxes.

The state is also offering an incentive. Companies that collect and remit taxes are entitled to 3.33 percent of the money as a collector’s fee, funds that could help businesses offset the costs of collection.

“It costs a company a lot of money”

But small-business manager Banta said the resources the state has presented online are tailored to large companies with ample accounting staffs and resources, not his operation, which includes just himself, his wife and a pair of contractors.

The core of the problem is the state’s hodgepodge system of taxing entities and rates. The Department of Revenue handles collections for most cities, counties and special districts, but 73 cities and two counties do their own collections, audits and set their own rules for what is taxable and what isn’t.

These “home-rule” jurisdictions create a major headache for businesses like Banta’s, which had transactions in 14 jurisdictions in September alone. The lowest cost he has found for an accountant to file a single remittance sheet on his behalf starts at $60. He believes filing monthly returns will be his third-largest business expense next year, behind raw materials and contractors. He has already informed his online and social media contractor he won’t be able to afford her services after Jan. 1.

In Longmont, Cindy Jones, the owner of herbal self-care products business is fretting over the new rules. She’s also concerned about the cost of compliance and said the state’s information has been confusing.

“I’m not real clear about it. I contacted our bookkeeper and he’s a little unclear, too, but he thought we would have to buy sales tax licenses for every jurisdiction that we sell to,” Jones said. “I have been putting money into advertising to try and increase online sales. Now it looks like we could be losing money on our online sales. That would definitely put us out of business.”

��and consultant with more than 30 years’ experience navigating corporate tax law, said the rules will be an “administrative burden” on local businesses, and a financial one, too.

“It costs a company a lot of money to comply with all of this stuff,” he said. “They have to hire someone to do it or find someone else to do this for them.”

Douglas County entrepreneur Kynsi Saye��thought about hiring an accountant but is planning to navigate the new rules on her own — for now. The 26-year-old founded three years ago. The business sells custom clothing inspired by the outdoors and the Colorado lifestyle. The business of one has done a few hundred sales this year, about 50 percent of which came through its website, Saye said.

“I’m not necessarily concerned, but it’s definitely going to take a lot more time and a lot more diligence to look at really every place and every county and every city that I am getting sales in,” she said.

A grace period and online help

State officials see the hurdles that lie ahead. The rules start Dec. 1 but an enforcement grace period will run through March 31.�� A is advertising free live webinars. That same site directs business owners to . If a retailer uses the site but collects the wrong tax they are free of liability, officials say.

“We certainly recognize that is a change from what people have been doing before, and we always want to encourage voluntary compliance with the tax laws of Colorado,” Hartman said.

A rule-making hearing covering the changes will be held at 2 p.m. Nov. 30 in Room 220 of the building at 1313 Sherman St. in Denver.

Even some home-rule cities are taking a wait-and-see approach. Arvada revenue manager Ezequiel Vasquezsaid that, as of now, his city is not requiring online retailers who have never had a city sales tax license to get one. If the city does require it at some point, the licenses will be free.

Possible legal challenge?

The Wayfair decision may have opened the door for Colorado’s rule change, but the narrow ruling could also lay the groundwork for a legal challenge, say observers with the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

In his majority opinion, ��South Dakota’s system, with a single collection point and a uniform set of taxable goods, appeared designed to “prevent discrimination against or undue burdens upon interstate commerce.” Meanwhile, the Tax Foundation counts Colorado’s sales tax system among the most complex in the country.

“What South Dakota has is a much easier system compared to Colorado in that you just remit in one place,”��. “There is no issue of having to remit to many different localities. There is no issue��with different tax amounts.”

Colorado officials have been trying for years to simplify the state’s rules. ��chairs the , which first convened in 2017.

The task force previously supported a bill that put out a request for information from software companies that might offer a one-stop sales tax portal for the state. In the 2019 legislative session, Kraft-Tharp said the group is planning a bill that will authorize the Department of Revenue to put out a request to companies that could provide a system like that.

The Arvada Democrat said creating a unified tax rate in Colorado is nearly impossible. Raising sales taxes in jurisdictions without a vote of the people is illegal under state law, and lowering it in others could hurt local budgets, services and jobs.

“The professional words we use are complicated and convoluted, but it����ap a nightmare,” Kraft-Tharp said. “Are we the definition of burdensome? My mission in life is to simply our system.”

Updated Nov. 5, 2018, at 12:25 p.m.��Because of an error by a source, the percentage of sales tax revenue the state will allow businesses to keep as a collector’s fee was originally misreported in this story. The fee is 3.33 percent.

The aim is to alleviate lines created by enhanced security measures this session, but the $250 price tag is prompting concerns that it grants certain people — particularly lobbyists — special access to the statehouse.

“It����ap very much like an express lane on the roads,” said state Rep. Dave Williams, a Colorado Springs Republican and bill sponsor. “You can use it if you are willing to pay for it. But if not, you can … go through the process as it is now.”

would allow anyone to pay the fee and submit fingerprints for a background check to obtain an identification card that allows entry to the Capitol and legislative buildings without going through a security screening.

Senate president Kevin Grantham, R-Cañon City, supports the measure, but it is expected to face opposition in the Democratic-led House, where leaders point to the Colorado State Patrol’s problems with the bill.

“I don’t agree with the idea of giving preferential access to this place, in particular, to folks who can pay several hundred dollars, which is a sum of money that is not easy for a lot of folks to come up with,” said Rep. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora.

A that applied only to lobbyists after it became known as the “” bill. But the sponsors of the new measure dismiss questions about special access because any member of the public could apply for the card.

“It����ap not really a lobbyist bill, it����ap for anybody,” said Sen. John Cooke, a Greeley Republican and former Weld County sheriff who is the lead sponsor.

“People that have business here — the public — should have access,” he added. “This is the people’s building, so we should make it as easy as possible for people to come here.”

But the bill’s sponsors acknowledge that the hefty fee — which could rise to as much as $500 — is intended to restrict the pass to those who most often visit the building, such as lobbyists and citizen activists.

Right now, lawmakers, legislative staff, state employees and reporters with offices in the Capitol are able to obtain identification cards to bypass the metal detectors —��installed in 2007 after an armed man entered the Capitol and was shot dead outside then-Gov. Bill Ritter’s office.

The State Patrol, which conducts the security screening at the Capitol and legislative buildings, recently began to require people to remove their belts. The lines to proceed through the security checkpoints at the two public entrances also can grow long with schoolchildren visiting the Capitol for field trips.

Trooper Josh Lewis, a State Patrol spokesman, expressed concern that the bill “may limit our ability to provide a safe and secure environment for all persons entering the Capitol complex.”

“As we have seen in the past, it only takes one individual with violent intent to endanger the safety and security of our Capitol,” he said in a statement. “While we are aware that these protocols may momentarily delay a person’s ability to enter the building, the Colorado State Patrol is committed to the safety of legislators, staff members and the public.”

The security issues are echoed by state lawmakers. Sen. Cheri Jahn, a Wheat Ridge independent who caucuses with Democrats, wants to see a background check for pass holders more frequently than every two years, as the bill states. “I don’t think that����ap probably a really good idea,” she said.

The pass is only available to those without a felony conviction, and the clerks in each chamber and the State Patrol may deny cards to those who are considered a safety threat.

But Rep. Tracy Kraft-Tharp, an Arvada Democrat and former lobbyist, said if security concerns are addressed, she supports it.

“It����ap a hassle for the people who come here,” she said of the current procedures.

The other problem, she added, is “now we have all these men walking around without belts. There are men who are not wearing their belts because they have to come in and out all the time.”

Eight months ago, toward the end of the legislative session, a Democratic policy aide reported concerns about harassment from Colorado state Rep. Paul Rosenthal to the House speaker’s office.

The issue never rose to a formal complaint, but the Denver Democratic lawmaker later apologized and received materials counseling him about the General Assembly’s workplace harassment policy.

The new details, described in interviews and confirmed by another Democratic lawmaker, raise more questions about Rosenthal’s behavior amid ��of a separate incident, one in which he allegedly groped and made unwanted advances toward another gay man at a 2012 political event when he was a candidate.

Rosenthal, 49, has denied the allegations made by Thomas Cavaness, a 29-year-old former Texas Army National Guard member and political campaign staffer. that Cavaness filed the formal complaint against Rosenthal on Tuesday and confirmed his account with two separate associates.

Rosenthal is one of facing accusations of sexual harassment.��The third-term lawmaker sidestepped a question this week about the latest incident, regarding the informal complaint from the 2017 session. His attorney, Harvey Steinberg, declined to comment Friday.

Heather O’Donnell, an attorney and former legislative policy aide, recounted what led to the informal complaint in a series of recent interviews with The Post. She said Rosenthal approached her in a room next to the House floor in early April to inquire about her 25-year-old brother, whom he met days earlier at the Capitol.

Rosenthal asked O’Donnell if her brother was gay and single, calling him attractive and saying he wanted to meet him again. She deflected the questions. Rosenthal, a teacher, told her that he may be able to help her brother professionally — even though her brother, an electrical engineer, earlier told the lawmaker that he wasn’t interested in politics.

“This was not subtle,” O’Donnell said in an interview. “I was very uncomfortable.”

The pursuit continued into the next week, she said, when Rosenthal’s office tried to call O’Donnell and later tracked her down in a Senate committee meeting. Rosenthal’s legislative aide, acting on his behalf, asked again about arranging a meeting with her brother and again mentioned helping with his career.

O’Donnell called Rosenthal’s behavior “predatory.”

“He’s using his position to reach out to men, to say he can help with a career,” she said. “It����ap a very thinly veiled, inartful way to seek out his behaviors that are less than savory.”

O’Donnell reported her concerns to her boss, Rep. Tracy Kraft-Tharp, on April 10. The lawmaker immediately took her to speak to House Speaker Crisanta Duran’s chief of staff, Kelly Watkins.

“Heather started telling me she was uncomfortable with something Rep. Rosenthal said to her brother,” said Kraft-Tharp, an Arvada Democrat. “I stopped her. It was not for me to resolve the situation. I said that we need to talk to leadership immediately.”

The speaker’s office gave O’Donnell options to proceed, but she declined.

“I was concerned about blowback … and feared retribution because of everything that happened,” she said.

In the end, O’Donnell was told Rosenthal received materials about the workplace and sexual harassment policy. Kraft-Tharp said she was told the situation was resolved, and O’Donnell felt comfortable with the outcome.

Rosenthal offered to apologize to her in person, but O’Donnell said she didn’t want to talk to him.

What made her come forward now is hearing other Colorado lawmakers, lobbyists and aides describe inappropriate behavior by legislators. Cavaness’ complaint against Rosenthal further encouraged her to go public with her story.

“This is 2017, and he’s still doing this,” she said, referring to Rosenthal. “He’s not being subtle, and in my opinion, he’s not going to stop this behavior.”