Boulder voters approve a vacancy tax of USD 4,000 to 7,000 a year on homes occupied half the year or less

Voters in Boulder, Colorado, approved Ballot Issue 2J, a residential vacancy excise tax, on 3 November 2026. Boulder County's unofficial results, last updated on 6 November, show 25,993 votes for and 17,783 against, or 59.4% in favour (WorldPolis calculation from the county's counts). Under the ballot text, homes occupied for 183 days or less a year pay USD 4,000, adjusted by the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood consumer price index with a floor of USD 4,000 and a cap of USD 7,000. Revenue goes to city services such as police and fire, parks and recreation, and transportation, estimated at USD 6m in 2028, the first full year. The city says details of administering the tax will be set in an ordinance the City Council will adopt in 2027, before the tax takes effect on 1 January 2028. That council vote is still to come.

A flat charge per property, with revenue for general services, makes the measure closer to a levy on second homes than to a tax designed mainly to bring empty homes back into use. Enforcement will decide whether it works: proving occupancy is the hard part of every vacancy tax, and Boulder has left the administrative rules to the 2027 ordinance.