Establish 5-year tax credit for home energy efficiency improvements

Photo: TABOR impact $0.09

This article is part of our look at potential refunds from the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. Learn more about how TABOR works here.

Title: HB15-1132 Residential Energy Efficiency Tax Credit

Sponsors: Rep. Don Coram (R-Montrose), Rep. K.C. Becker (D-Boulder)

Status: Introduced and assigned to the House finance, appropriations and transportation and energy committees on Jan. 22. The House Transportation and Energy Committee referred an amended version of the bill favorably to the Finance Committee on Feb. 11. The Finance Committee referred the amended bill to the Appropriations Committee on Feb 26. The Appropriations Committee referred the amended bill to the whole House on April 10. The bill was introduced in the Senate and assigned to the agriculture, natural resources and energy and finance committees after passing its third House reading on April 16. The Senate Agriculture Natural Resources Committee referred the unamended bill to the Finance Committee on April 23. The Finance Committee killed the bill on April 28.

What the bill would have done: Anyone who makes home improvements that result in improved energy efficiency could claim a residential energy reduction income tax credit. Qualified residents could claim up to $2,000 if they cut their energy consumption by 60 or more millions of BTUs.

How it would have affected your refund: The amended bill would lessen the average taxpayer refund by 9 cents for fiscal year 2015-16. Previously, it was expected to reduce the average refund by 18 cents during fiscal year 2015-16.

What's being said about this bill:

The National Law Review said on March 10 that this bill is likely to make it on to the governor's desk.