Affordability
When it comes to the City of Boulder, “Affordability” is a term that is tossed around frequently with efforts of varying scope and scale. Jamo has observed the greatest financial stressors on Boulder natives to be the skyrocketing cost of rent, fueled by corporate rental management companies.
“I don’t care if rental companies charge exorbitant prices to wealthy, out-of-state students. I just think the Boulder population should benefit from those profits.”
—Jamo
The Problem:
Large rental management companies have taken over Boulder. RentCafe estimates the average housing price on The Hill to be $2,316. Large rental management companies that up-charge college students pay the same taxes on their units as mom-and-pop renters. All landlords in Boulder owe an annual excise tax of just $80.71 per dwelling unit (for properties that require a long-term rental license, more than 30 days, i.e most housing marketed at students.) They are also responsible for standard Colorado income tax (4.4%) on their net rental income. This means that for a certain Boulder property company, they would pay a meager $72,639 a year in excise taxes on 900 units!
The Solution:
Impose a tiered dwelling unit excise tax for large corporate housing portfolios with more than 75 units, depending on how many units they own, up to a $350 / year per unit.
Use these taxes from large corporate rental companies to subsidize rent assistance programs in the lowest income areas in Boulder.
An Example:
Let’s say the Boulder Property Company has 100 units with an average rent of $2,000 a month. Under the current rules, over one tax year, this company will pay $8071.00 in excise tax, and $10,560.00 in sales tax. This means the company will pay a total of $113,671 taxes on a total yield of $2.4 million… less than 5%.
According to the Tax Foundation, the average American pays between 27%-30% of their yearly income on taxes. Why are regular Americans paying 500% more in taxes than rental companies?
Under the new rules, our Boulder Property Company could pay up to $350/year per unit in excise tax, at a rate of 4.4% sales tax. Under this rate, our Boulder Property company would pay $140,600 in taxes on the same units, almost 6%.
While this small increase might seem marginal, the benefits could be huge. With an estimated 9,500 units across three unspecified rental management companies in Boulder, with an average rental price of $2,350 (August 2026), Boulder could be generating up to $3.3 million dollars in excess revenue that it could redistribute to affordable housing, wildfire prevention, and combatting homelessness.
Have questions? Jamo has answers.