skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Day two of David Pecker testimony wraps in NY Trump trial; Supreme Court hears arguments on Idaho's near-total abortion ban; ND sees a flurry of campaigning among Native candidates; and NH lags behind other states in restricting firearms at polling sites.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The Senate moves forward with a foreign aid package. A North Carolina judge overturns an aged law penalizing released felons. And child protection groups call a Texas immigration policy traumatic for kids.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Wyoming needs more educators who can teach kids trade skills, a proposal to open 40-thousand acres of an Ohio forest to fracking has environmental advocates alarmed and rural communities lure bicyclists with state-of-the-art bike trail systems.

Small Businesses Cheer House Plan to Change B and O Taxes

play audio
Play

Tuesday, May 30, 2017   

OLYMPIA, Wash. – As budget negotiations continue in Olympia, small business owners are supporting House Democrats' plan to restructure the business and occupation tax.

The House has proposed raising rates 20 percent for businesses making more than $250,000 in gross revenue and exempting any business smaller than that.

Munish Bharti recently started a small law practice representing clients who are the victims of negligence. He says the B-and-O tax as it stands now puts stress on small businesses like his as they're starting up.

"What often happens is, smaller businesses, it takes a while to get going and we shouldn't have taxes that essentially inhibit a business' ability to grow from the get-go without giving it an opportunity to grow," he states.

State Republicans, who control the Senate, have proposed in their budget changes to property taxes that would result in higher taxes for residents of cities such as Seattle and lower taxes for rural areas.

Lawmakers are in their second special session and must come to a budget agreement by July 1 in order to avoid a government shutdown.

The House's B-and-O restructuring proposal would eliminate the tax for more than 70 percent of businesses. It also would give businesses that gross between $250,000 and $500,000 a $100,000 deduction.

Bharti maintains this plan balances the scales tax-wise for companies of all sizes.

"At the end of the day, everything should be fair, and I think this proposal will help make tax burdens more fair for both small and large businesses alike," he states.

The change to the B-and-O tax is part of the House's plan to make large corporations share more of the state's tax burden.

House Democrats also have proposed a new capital gains tax. However, Gov. Jay Inslee has said neither this nor the Senate's property tax proposal has enough support to pass both chambers.





get more stories like this via email

more stories
Creedon Newell practices teaching construction skills in Wyoming's new career and technical educator bridge course, designed to encourage trades students and professionals to pursue a career in CTE teaching. (Photo by Rob Hill)

Social Issues

play sound

By Lane Wendell Fischer for the Shasta Scout via The Daily Yonder.Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service for the Public News …


Environment

play sound

By Naoki Nitta for Civil Eats.Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public Ne…

Social Issues

play sound

Concerns about potential voter intimidation have spurred several states to consider banning firearms at polling sites but so far, New Hampshire is …


Environment

play sound

The construction of more solar farms in the U.S. has been contentious but a new survey shows their size makes a difference in whether solar projects …

Political fights were once considered "taboo" for school boards but things like book bans and debates over diversity programs have brought more tension to the day-to-day functions of the panels. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Minnesota's largest school district is at the center of a budget controversy tied to the recent wave of school board candidates fighting diversity pro…

play sound

Minnesota lawmakers are considering a measure which would force employers to properly classify certain trade union workers and others as employees rat…

Health and Wellness

play sound

By Mary Anne Franks for Ms. Magazine.Broadcast version by Alex Gonzalez for Northern Rockies News Service reporting for the Ms. Magazine-Public News …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021