{"id":156,"date":"2026-05-08T09:04:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T09:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=156"},"modified":"2026-05-08T09:04:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T09:04:42","slug":"colorado-bill-exempts-credit-card-fees-on-sales-tax-to-save-businesses-money-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=156","title":{"rendered":"Colorado bill exempts credit card fees on sales tax to save businesses money"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

This story was first published at Colorado Newsline.<\/em><\/p>\n

DENVER<\/strong> | The Colorado Legislature gave final approval this week to a bill that would\u00a0lower the fees\u00a0businesses need to pay credit card companies every time a customer swipes their card. It was one of the most heavily lobbied bills this legislative session.<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 26-134\u00a0would exempt sales taxes from the \u201cinterchange\u201d fees that banks charge merchants when a person uses their debit or credit card. That fee currently is applied to the entire transaction, including the base price and the sales tax. The fee can range from about 1.5% to 3%, and bill supporters say it is unfair to charge it on the sales tax, money the business collects on behalf of the government.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cThey should not have to pay fees on the local or state taxes that they are collecting from that customer,\u201d bill sponsor and House Speaker Julie McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat, said. \u201cThey are simply acting as a passthrough, a collector of those taxes to push those on to local and state governments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill passed the House on a 44-20 vote on Wednesday and the Senate on a 18-17 vote earlier this month.<\/p>\n

It would allow credit card companies to comply with the policy by not charging the swipe fee on the sales tax at the time of sale or sending rebates back to the businesses. It would only apply to the largest credit card companies that have at least $60 billion in assets.<\/p>\n

The bill was largely supported by restaurants, retailers and other businesses, who told lawmakers during the committee process that eliminating sales tax swipe fees would save them much-needed money, even into the thousands of dollars, that could go back to operations and employee compensation. It was amended in the Senate to clarify that any savings resulting from the policy would go towards reducing prices or investing in employee benefits and wages.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0\u00a0of over 100 operators from the Colorado Restaurant Association found that restaurants could save around $26,000 annually with the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not an abstract line item,\u201d bill sponsor and House Majority Leader Monica Duran, a Wheat Ridge Democrat, told lawmakers in committee earlier this week. \u201cThis is a raise for a dishwasher, health insurance for a server. This is the difference between a small business making pay roll or laying someone off.\u201d<\/p>\n

The measure was also supported by large corporations like Target, King Soopers and Walmart, who stand to save large amounts of money if sales tax was exempt from swipe fees.<\/p>\n

The bill was opposed by a deep bench of banks and credit card companies, such as Visa, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and the Electronic Payment Coalition. The latter bankrolled advertising on Instagram and Facebook against the bill, warning that the policy could disrupt credit card rewards programs and force separate transactions for an item\u2019s base price and sales tax. Those groups also argued it would be expensive and complicated to change their payment systems to carve out sales tax from the automatic fee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Colorado General Assembly ignored repeated warnings from tourism groups, community leaders, legal experts, and small businesses about the credit card chaos this bill would unleash,\u201d Richard Hunt, Electronic Payments Coalition\u2019s executive chairman, said in a statement. \u201cThe only way to prevent confusion at checkout, years of costly legal battles, and harm to Colorado workers and businesses is for Governor (Jared) Polis to veto this legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The banking industry points to a\u00a0similar law in Illinois\u00a0currently embroiled in legal challenges.<\/p>\n

The measure now heads to the governor\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Read more Aurora\u2019s February sales tax revenue drops as restaurant, clothing sales rise<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Read more DOJ targets Colorado\u2019s gun magazine limits prompted by Aurora theater shooting<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Read more PERRY: Mizel Holocaust program reviews the road to Hell, and how to avoid it<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story was first published at Colorado Newsline. DENVER | The Colorado Legislature gave final approval this week to a bill that would\u00a0lower the fees\u00a0businesses need to pay credit card companies every time a customer swipes their card. It was one of the most heavily lobbied bills this legislative session. Senate Bill 26-134\u00a0would exempt sales […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[339],"tags":[340,341,342,343,344,345,346],"class_list":["post-156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colorado-legislature","tag-colorado-government","tag-colorado-legislature","tag-colorado-restaurant-association","tag-governor-jared-polis","tag-house-majority-leader-monica-duran","tag-house-speaker-julie-mccluskie","tag-senate-bill-26-134"],"yoast_head":"\nColorado bill exempts credit card fees on sales tax to save businesses money - Denver Moving Chronicle<\/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:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=156\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colorado bill exempts credit card fees on sales tax to save businesses money - Denver Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This story was first published at Colorado Newsline. DENVER | The Colorado Legislature gave final approval this week to a bill that would\u00a0lower the fees\u00a0businesses need to pay credit card companies every time a customer swipes their card. It was one of the most heavily lobbied bills this legislative session. 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