New Colorado Bill Would Exempt Baby, Toddler Products from State Sales Tax
The cost of raising a child from birth to age 18 has never been higher, nor have the past few years been easy on parents through the pandemic, inflation, and Colorado’s housing crunch. According to US News Money the cost of raising a child in 2024 could be as much as $310,000.
Their news article about these parenting costs noted: “For years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture published an annual report that calculated the average cost of raising a child to adulthood, not including college expenses. That report hasn’t been updated since 2017, but at that time, it found the cost of raising a child born in 2015 was $233,610. That assumes the child was born to a middle-income, married couple. When adjusted for inflation, the number jumps to $290,014 in 2022 dollars, based on the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”
A new bill proposed in the Colorado House would provide some sales tax relief for parents preparing for new babies, and some tax-free times when parents could save money while purchasing needed toddler and school-age supplies.
House Bill 24-1027 proposes to exempt toddler and baby products, such as cribs, swings, clothes, and strollers, from the state sales tax of 2.9 percent.
For the parents of school-age children, this same bill would also create two, two-week tax holidays for back-to-school products, including backpacks, school supplies, and computers, under a certain dollar amount.
The bill is co-sponsored by two Dads: Representative Ty Winters and Senator Byron Pelton. It defines the items included in the “baby and toddler” product category.
It should be pointed out that most of these are all hard items, and most (or many) purchased just once.
What might really help the budgets of parents of little ones would be exempting two of the most needed items; recurring items that are a big, recurring drain on young parents’ budgets. Perhaps this thought is just too simple, but Ark Valley Voice has a thought; what about removing the tax paid on commercial diaper products or formula? .
Of course, this might just be too much common sense — but then again, maybe the time has come …
Featured image: Courtesy of Hdwallpaper.nu
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