The Steamboat Springs Community Preservation Alliance asks Steamboat Springs to join us in voting no way on Prop 2A. Our new campaign against the brutal 9% Short Term Rental Tax which will permanently damage our economy, is underway. Our campaign is organized and we have hired a political consultant with the goa of raising $50,000+ for a digital ad campaign. Will you please help us? Find out how you can get involved today.
How You Can Get Involved
- Donate Today: Please consider donating to the campaign to add your voice and educate the community on the dangers of this STR tax. If 250 people donate $200, we are at $50,000. We have over 3000 STRs in this community; think about the impact we will have!
- Share with Your Network: Please share our Say No to 2A campaign with your friends, family, and colleagues ahead of election day. We need everyone educated and informed on this destructive ballot initiative.
- Follow Us on Social: Like and share our Facebook campaign page as well as our SSCPA Facebook page. Liking, commenting, and reacting to posts spreads awareness. It would be helpful to show support for our opposition by sharing the Facebook pages with others so that people can like these pages, adding weight and momentum to our campaign.
- Sign our Petition: Our Change.org petition is now over 500 signatures. Add your name to the list today!
- Educate: The STR tax is a complicated issue for people to understand. We support the need for affordable housing but believe the focus should be on shovel-ready projects that will provide more immediate relief. We oppose a punitive tax that damages over 50% of our local economy tied to tourism.
Why Opposing 2A Makes Sense
Steamboat Springs voters need to say NO WAY to 2A — the short-term rental tax — for the sake of our community; our local economy, our local businesses, and their ability to create and sustain jobs.
2A is the largest tax hike of any kind in the history of Steamboat Springs, quadrupling the lodging tax from 3% to 12%. It will make taxes on non-hotel lodging nearly double from 11.4% to 20.4%, more than double that of rival ski area Vail.
Not a Solution for Affordable Housing
Steamboat Springs City Council wants to heavily tax Steamboat’s short-term rentals because they allegedly take affordable housing off the market for local workers and other residents. There is NO data nor any evidence to support that. There is NO proven connection between short-term rental units in Steamboat and the local market for affordable housing. It’s a lazy correlation at best.
The vast majority of the city’s approximately 3,000 short-term rental units are condos that were never on the local rental market for long-term occupancy by Steamboat workers. The short-term units were designed, located, and marketed to accommodate skiers and other vacationers — not local workers and families. This tax offers NO relief but instead adds to the burden of local businesses and their employees.
Detrimental Impact on Steamboat’s Economy
2A will undermine Steamboat’s status as a year-round premier family destination for visitors. The tax hike will make Steamboat one of North America’s most highly taxed tourism destinations and among the very highest in Colorado. With a recession looming, vacationers nationwide will look for less expensive options on lodging in one of our mountain-town competitors; bad for all of us.
The lodging and tourist industry is the largest sector of the Steamboat economy and directly impacts well over 50% of our local economy that is tied to tourism. This punitive tax would affect a significant number of jobs and businesses across the city. Guests staying in short-term rentals spend $250 million annually in our city. If the STR tax passes and reduces demand by 10%, it could cost Steamboat $25 million to raise a mere $12 million in tax revenue. We go backward, hurting local jobs and making Steamboat a harder place to live in.
Not a Reliable Source of Revenue
2A is NOT a reliable source of revenue for the city. Short-term rental occupancy in Steamboat Springs stood at 29% for July 2022, compared with 43% for July 2021. That’s a significant drop of 32.5%. It is already an unsteady funding stream to budget a city program.
Our City Council has yet to justify why it voted for such an excessive tax. The city council members overruled their own staff, who had recommended at most a 1% to 3% tax on short-term rentals. City Council members decided instead to ask voters for 9% with zero consideration of the economic impact and ignoring input from the various local communities, including businesses, the residents, and the public.
City council members rejected a more equitable and viable proposal by the business community to raise affordable-housing funding through a modest tax on all lodging, not just short-term rentals. Additionally, they added a sales tax that would exempt groceries and utilities. It would have spread the burden more broadly and eased the tax toll on everyone, including visitors.
Let’s NOT destroy what we’ve built. 2A will wreak havoc on our lodging industry, our visitor industry and our overall local economy. Say NO WAY on 2A.