Colorado General Assembly

State Senate

200 East Colfax Avenue

Denver, Colorado 80203

Dear Senator,

On behalf of the 35,494 members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste in the state of Colorado, I urge you to support SB 17-238, which repeals part of the current state law requiring retailers that do not collect Colorado sales tax to provide notice to purchasers that they may be subject to Colorado’s use tax, send an annual summary of purchases that total more than $500, and provide the Colorado Department of Revenue with a report on each consumer that lists name, address, and total amounts spent.

SB 17-238 would amend this law to require retailers to send a notice regarding the potential use tax payments in a separate email that does not contain any other information regarding any purchases from that retailer, and repeal the requirement that the retailer must sent to the Colorado Department of Revenue detailed personal information about each Colorado purchaser. 

While one of the alleged purposes of efforts to collect sales taxes on out-of-state purchases is to level the playing field between such sellers and bricks-and-mortar sellers in the state, the notice and reporting requirements of the current law would give the government details for online purchases that it cannot obtain for in-store purchases.  Such a “Big Brother” policy threatens individual privacy.  Given the history of technological ineptitude and poor cybersecurity related to government computer systems, it is certainly possible that this very personal information could become public. 

By limiting the law to educate Coloradans on their tax obligations to the state and eliminating the requirement that coerces out-of-state retailers and other online sellers to “tattletale” on their customers, this legislation preserves consumer privacy and helps to address concerns over unpaid use taxes. Therefore, I urge you to support SB 17-238.

Sincerely,

Tom Schatz

President, CCAGW