Vacancy Excise Tax
Boulder city, Colorado
My vote power
High
Election date
November 3, 2026
How do we calculate my vote power?
What goes into the rating: Representation: how much weight one vote carries here compared with a statewide vote — the smaller the district, the more each vote counts. Decisiveness: how likely this race is to be close, based on past results or current analyst ratings, plus the number of candidates.
Representation: High · 68 out of 100
This district is a small slice of its state, so each vote here carries much more weight than a vote in a statewide race. About 106,433 people live here.
Show the representation math
score = 50 + 50 × ln(state population ÷ this district's) ÷ ln(50,000) = 50 + 50 × ln(5,862,189 ÷ 106,433) ÷ ln(50,000) = 68.53, measured against a statewide vote in CO (grades: 66+ high, 33+ normal, otherwise low; a statewide race is the 50 baseline)
High representation → My vote power: High.
Ballot Measure
Boulder would charge a yearly tax on homes that sit empty most of the year, meaning lived in for 183 days or less. The tax would start at $4,000 per home, rise with inflation, and could never go above $7,000. The city expects about $6 million a year, starting in 2028, for general city services.
Read the official ballot measure
A YES vote means
Owners of homes left empty more than half the year pay a $4,000-a-year tax, rising with inflation up to $7,000.
A NO vote means
There is no tax on empty homes.