refund on their individual state income tax return. Many counties and cities charge their own rates in addition to the base state rate. There are also certain county and special district taxes that may apply. The most common special district taxes are: Regional Transportation District (RTD), which affects the counties of Denver, Boulder, Jefferson and portions of Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield and Douglas Cultural Facilities District (CD) Football Stadium District (FD or FTBL), approved by the voters to pay for and help build the Denver Broncos’ stadium Local Improvement District (LID) within designated areas of southeast Jefferson and Boulder counties Regional Transportation District (RTA) taxes at varying rates in Basalt, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, Gunnison County Real estate and personal business property are taxable in Colorado. Real property is assessed by a professional assessor to determine its actual value. The state legislature sets the assessment rate of 29% for commercial property, 7.15% for residential. The actual value is multiplied by the assessment rate get the assessed value. Then counties set their mill rate which is multiplied by the assessed value to get the tax liability. A $430,000 residence in Denver with the Mill rate of 0.072116 yields the following example. " $430,000 x 0.0715 x 0.072116 = $2,217.21". Colorado first instituted a state income tax in 1937, as a progressive tax, with income below $2,000 taxed at 1% and over $10,000 at 6%. This would remain so for 50 years, until the state adopted a flat tax rate of 5% for 1987 tax year. In 1992, the voters approved Taxpayer Bill of Rights at a referendum, requiring increases in overall tax revenue to be tied to inflation and population increases, otherwise tax increases would have to be approved by voters by referendum. For tax year 1999, the income tax was reduced further to 4.75% and for tax year 2000 to 4.63%, where it would remain for 20 years, until voters approved by referendum a further reduction to 4.55%. In 2018, voters rejected in a referendum a return to progressive tax. Denver's economy Denver's economy (Denver is the Rocky Mountain region's most populous city), is based largely on its geographic position. The Denver metropolitan area is the largest in the area (the nearest metro area of comparable size is the Kansas City Metropolitan Area about 600 miles east). Denver is the location of federal, high-tech, educational, commercial, financial, cultural, tourist, storage, and distribution