Boulder’s quest to tax software, real estate sends wrong message

Two tax measures being pursued by the city of Boulder send the wrong message about the city’s commitment to economic vitality.

The first such measure is an ill-advised attempt to “clarify” that the city’s tax code encompasses software downloaded from the Internet.

The measure stems from a court ruling involving Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. A Boulder district judge ruled in August that the city’s current software tax applies only to software delivered via a physical medium, such as tapes or disks.

City officials worry that not being able to tax software downloaded via the Internet would eliminate about $3 million per year…