A pair of bills to raise more state tax revenue and direct it to low-income families in Colorado died in committee on Monday afternoon, two days before the end of the legislative session.

Sponsors of House Bill 26-1221 and House Bill 26-1222 asked the committee to postpone them indefinitely, a procedural move that kills the legislation. Those two bills would have undone some of the federal tax code changes Congress approved last summer by decoupling the state’s tax law from certain provisions. The revenue would have then flowed to a new affordability credit for low-income families, a mirror to the Family Affordability Tax Credit.

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The FATC was passed in 2024 but is projected to expire this year, because the state will not collect enough money over the revenue cap set by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights to trigger it. Experts credit the tax credit for dramatically reducing the childhood poverty rate in Colorado, and Democrats wanted to find an alternative way to keep supporting families.

“The overarching goal was to get at this problem that we have in our state and actually across our country, of people who are at the bottom not being able to make it, and people who are at the top having a lot,” HB-1221 sponsor Senator Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat, said. “To make things more even, and to do one little thing to get at income inequality — I think that’s a worthy goal, and that it is something we actually should be trying to do.”

Together, the two bills would have limited new tax deductions businesses could claim on executive salaries, operating losses and depreciation on manufacturing facilities. A fiscal analysis predicted they could have raised nearly $400 million in revenue in the 2027-2028 fiscal year. They passed the House last week.

Amabile blamed a lack of Senate support for her bill’s failure. Senator Cathy Kipp, a Fort Collins Democrat who sponsored HB-1222, alluded to a veto threat from Governor Jared Polis.

“It is clear that this bill will be vetoed unless we agree to reducing the state income tax, something that I believe is irresponsible,” she said.

A third bill, House Bill 26-1223, is still pending. That bill would bring revenue for the new affordability credit by removing a sales tax exemption on downloadable software. The Senate will need to give it preliminary approval on Tuesday and pass it on a final vote on Wednesday for it to head to Polis’ desk.