Since I work in the city of Denver, CO, I have $5.75 deducted from my
paycheck every month. They call this an "Occupational Privilege Tax
(OPT)". Supposedly this for the "privilege" of working in Denver even
though I don't live in Denver. Isn't this taxation with
representation? What legal precedent is there for this? Isn't this why
we fought the Revolutionary War?

---

Clarification of Question by kkrueger-ga on 28 Oct 2002 20:45 PST

Ooops, I meant taxation WITHOUT representation. I'm not an anti-tax
person, but this whole "Occupational Privilege Tax" idea is something
I've never encountered before.

Hi, 

City and County of Denver, Colorado TAX GUIDE Topic No. 61
OCCUPATIONAL PRIVILEGE TAX
http://198.202.202.66/Treasury/Occupational%20Privilege%20Tax.htm

Occupational Privilege Tax (OPT) consists of two distinct parts: the
Employee Occupational Tax and the Business Occupational Tax. The
Occupational Privilege Tax is imposed on businesses operating in the
City and on individuals who perform sufficient services within Denver
to receive as compensation at least five hundred dollars ($500) for a
calendar month. Employees need not live in Denver nor the business be
based within Denver to be liable for the OPT. In addition, employers
are required to remit a Business Tax for each taxable employee.

The OPT was enacted in 1969 at the rate of two dollars ($2.00) each
for both the Employee Tax and the Business Tax. Effective November 1,
1988 the rates were increased to $5.75 and $4.00 for the Employee and
the Business taxes, respectively.

There have been a few questions about this, but so far nothing has
happened to warrant the removal of the tax. In one document (not about
Denver itself) the city council talking about invoking such a tax
suggested that the proper name was Occupational Privilege Tax, since
"Payroll Tax" was Unconstitutional.
http://www.ci.oak-ridge.tn.us/minutes/minAug5-2002.htm
which I thought was amusing. 

No. 98SC431 City and County of Denver v. United Air Lines, Inc.: 
www.courts.state.co.us/supct/opinion/98SC431.doc 

So far it is legal, and since the States are allowed to Tax as they
see fit, or not tax, then there is very little the Constitution has to
say about it. Without Representation, means that it wasn't voted in,
which this tax was.

Thanks, 

webadept-ga

---

Request for Answer Clarification by kkrueger-ga on 29 Oct 2002 08:02 PST

The Denver vs. United Airlines link does not work. Is this the correct link?

Thanks.

---

Clarification of Answer by webadept-ga on 29 Oct 2002 09:32 PST

Hi, looks like the document is gone, but Google still has the cache
you can "View as HTML" to get there go to this page on Google

://www.google.com/search?q=No.+98SC431+City+and+County+of+Denver+v.+United+Air+Lines,+Inc.&num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&filter=0

Near the bottom you will see a section that says this:

[DOC]Concur Dissent Concur Dissent
File Format: Microsoft Word 97 - View as HTML
ADVANCE SHEET HEADNOTE. September 11, 2000. No. 98SC431 City and
County of Denver
v. United Air Lines, Inc.: Administrative Law ? Exhaustion of
Administrative ...
www.courts.state.co.us/supct/opinion/98SC431.doc - Similar pages 


Click on the View as HTML and the cache will come up. 

Apologies for that. 

webadept-ga

A decent answer for the money I was offering. I would have been
interested in hearing more about "Taxation without representation" and
what it really means, but part of that is me asking better questions!
:-)

Taxes against the English Colonies was voted in by parliament, which
the English Colonies could not participate in but were required to
abide by the laws of. That is what "taxation without representation"
means, and was a basis for the American revolution. In other words,
they as citizens were required to abide by laws they had no hand in
creating.

You don't live in the city, so you don't get representation. If you
want representation, you have to live in the city. If you don't want
to pay the Denver taxes, you are not legally compelled to do business
in that city. It's only taxation without representation if you live
there and cannot elect your own govt. officials.

This has been an issue in other places. For example, people who rent
seasonal homes in vacation communities resent paying many kinds of
taxes for which they get no vote on, regardless of the 3 or 4 months
out of the year they reside there. If you want representation, you
have to have permanent residence.

Real "taxation without representation": Washington, DC is not a state,
but federal jurisdiction. Federal taxes are levied on DC citizens
though they have no representation in the senate. This would not be an
issue if the federal government abided by its own constitutional
restrictions on federal land limitations.

Thanks for the enlightening comment alan_dershowitz-ga. THE Alan
Dershowitz?? You're right... I'm not forced to work in Denver, I
choose to. But the Occupational Privilege Tax still seems a little
over-the-top to me. What will they tax next? :-)