Create a credit for tobacco product distributors who sell out of state

Photo: TABOR impact $0.01

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: HB15-1301 Tobacco Credit Shipped To Out-of-state Consumers

Sponsors: Rep. Daneya Esgas (D-Pueblo), Sen. Pat Steadman (D-Denver)

Status: Introduced and assigned to the House and Finance committees on March 20. The House Business Affairs and Labor Committee referred the bill to the Finance Committee on March 26. The Finance Committee referred an amended version of the bill to the Appropriations Committee on April 22. The Appropriations Committee referred an amended version of the bill to the whole House on April 29. The House passed its third reading of the bill on April 30 and it was assigned to the Senate Finance Committee. The Finance Committee referred the bill to the Appropriations Committee on May 1. The Appropriations Committee referred the bill to the whole Senate on May 4. The Senate passed its second reading of the bill on May 5.

What the bill does: This bill creates a credit for distributors who sell cigarettes to out-of-state-consumers. The credit would go against the federal tobacco excise tax in a value equal to the Colorado excise taxes paid on tobacco products.

How it affects your refund: This bill would lessen the average taxpayer refund by up to one cent for fiscal year 2015-16.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misstated the impact of the bill. The bill is expected to lessen the average refund by one penny.