Senate Republican Lawmakers Announce Plan to
Prioritize PA Small Businesses
HARRISBURG – A group
of Senate Republican lawmakers announced a package of bills today designed to
support small businesses that have been affected by Governor Wolf’s response to
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senators Ryan P.
Aument (R-36), Camera Bartolotta (R-46), Judy Ward (R-30) and Kristin
Phillips-Hill (R-28) held a news conference today at Lititz Springs Inn & Spa
and The Bulls Head Public House in Lititz to announce the Prioritize PA: Small Businesses initiative.
The package of bills includes immediate financial and tax relief for smaller employers
and regulatory reforms to reduce burdens on small businesses.
During the news
conference, Senator Aument highlighted a five-bill package designed
to aid small businesses that are struggling to recover from the COVID-19
pandemic.
The package will
include no-interest loans to struggling small businesses, a tax credit program
modeled after the successful Education Improvement Tax Credit Program, a
temporary waiver of fees for various state licensing, the ability to deduct
property taxes from the state’s Corporate Net Income or Personal Income Tax
liability, and a three-year option to offset earnings from prior years or future
years against current year losses and get refunds for prior years (carryback)
or cut future tax bills (carryforward).
Also included in the
package is Senate Bill 368,
sponsored by Senators Bartolotta and Ward, which would update state tax laws in
order to provide critical assistance to small businesses that have been
impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The legislation would
allow small businesses to take a net loss against other sources of income;
permit small businesses to take Net Operating Losses against future years for
up to 20 years; and temporarily allow small businesses to “carry back” losses
to previous tax years. These changes would allow small business owners the
option to benefit from the same tax strategies as their larger competitors and
provide the same immediate relief that is offered at the federal level.
“We have heard from so
many of our small business owners about the devastation caused by the pandemic
and Governor Wolf’s heavy-handed response to it,” Bartolotta said. “Our bill
provides the kind of immediate relief our smaller employers need to level the
playing field and help them recover and rebuild.”
“Many small businesses
that have been profitable for years are now seeing losses that are entirely due
to COVID-19. Small shops and mom-and-pop operations do not have massive amounts
of savings; they are holding on by a thread,” Ward said. “We cannot allow these
families to lose everything they have worked so hard to build.”
In addition to
providing small business relief, the package also includes legislation
sponsored by Senator Phillips-Hill that provides comprehensive regulatory
reform to help small businesses cut through the mountain of red tape created by
state government agencies.
Senate Bill 32 would
help the state grapple with its excessive regulatory burden by creating an
Independent Office of the Repealer to help identify
and eliminate outdated or onerous regulations. The measure would also provide
greater legislative oversight for proposed economically significant regulations
and provide greater transparency and accessibility to the regulatory process in
every agency in state government.
According to the World
Bank and the Mercatus Center at George Mason
University, overregulation consumes between .8 to 2.3 percent of GDP annually.
“Regulations are a self-made problem that are in part the result of choices
made by the legislative branch of government. As a result, state agencies
develop rules and regulations that place new burdens on small businesses,”
Phillips-Hill said. “We must reverse this trend of growing regulations and the
negative impact that it has on our economy.”
The bills in the
Prioritize PA: Small Businesses package stand in stark contrast to Governor
Wolf’s budget proposal, which would raise taxes on hundreds of thousands of
small businesses and create additional cost burdens through a minimum wage hike
to $15 an hour. The provisions would be a serious blow to small employers who
are already struggling due to Governor Wolf’s business shutdowns and
restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several statewide
industry groups have voiced their support for the Prioritize Pennsylvania:
Small Businesses package.
“There are many
challenges that entrepreneurs face as they begin to
recover and reopen to full capacity,” said Pennsylvania Manufacturers’
Association President and CEO David N. Taylor. “But with every
challenge comes an opportunity to rethink and better support our many
industries. We certainly cannot tax our way out of this unfortunate situation,
but with robust and sustained economic growth, our businesses can recover, our
citizens can obtain meaningful work, and our state revenues will reflect this
success.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic
has had a profound impact on businesses of all sizes across the Commonwealth
and our nation,” said Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging
Association President and CEO John Longstreet. “In an effort to
rebuild our state’s economy and boost our once vibrant small businesses, the
Prioritize Pennsylvania: Small Businesses package is a coordinated approach
that will not only help us get through the end of this pandemic, but will also
make significant reforms to improve and revitalize the state’s economic climate
to strengthen our small businesses.”
The lawmakers also
pointed out that other bills introduced or announced by Senate Republicans
could help improve the jobs climate in Pennsylvania and support small
employers, including:
CONTACT: Stephanie Applegate (717) 787-4420
(Senator Aument)
Jon Hopcraft (717) 787-7085 (Senator Phillips-Hill)
Colleen Greer (717) 787-1463 (Senator Bartolotta)
Cheryl Schriner (717) 787-5490 (Senator Ward)