Colorado House passes bill to allow vote on taxing offshore accounts

A bill that could allow the state to collect taxes on corporate profits in offshore tax havens to fund Colorado schools survived a narrow party-lane vote in the state House of Representatives on Tuesday.

The Democrats’ bill, which passed the House 33-31, faces a tough road as it moves from the party’s majority in the chamber to the Senate, where Republicans have a one-seat majority.

The legislation would allow voters in November to decide if the state should try to recoup an estimated $150 million from corporations that do business in the state and store money in jurisdictions that impose little or no taxes, such as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Luxembourg.

One of the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Mike Foote, D-Lafayette, said a vote on the bill Tuesday represented who legislators are fighting for, whether it’s corporations that use tax havens or whether it’s schools, as well as small businesses and individuals who pay their fair share of state taxes.