The town of Breckenridge, Colorado, located west of Denver in the Rocky Mountains, is known both as a ski resort and a pioneer in solar energy. The city has established two community solar gardens, where residents can purchase panels to take advantage of the state’s generous tax credits and rebates for renewable energy. Adding to that legacy, the Breckenridge Town Council recently enacted legislation that exempts solar panels from the town’s sales tax of 8.725 percent.

“As a town we feel very passionate about solar,” Kim Dykstra-DiLallo, spokeswoman for the town of Breckenridge, told local news source the Summit Daily. “Looking at the bigger concept of solar arrays and the solar gardens, we felt that should exempt them.”

The tax exemption could save families hoping to go solar almost $1,700 on their systems, shortening the amount of time needed to earn a positive return on their investment.

What Breckenridge is doing could serve as a model for similar policies in California. Currently, solar panels are not exempted from the sales tax, although there are some tax credits for manufacturers which are eventually passed on to consumers. But given that migration to solar power would be good for the state economy and the finances of California households, it makes sense for policy makers to encourage such movement by putting in place a sales tax holiday for solar panels.

Even without such a policy, solar pricing is already competitive and affordable to thousands of homes throughout the Bay Area. For information on you can benefit from going solar, contact West Coast Solar today.