Events are fine but what do legislative actions just taken mean for Main Street?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tony Gagliardi, Colorado State Director, 303-325-6243, [email protected]
or Tony Malandra, Regional Media Manager, 415-640-5156, [email protected]
DENVER, May 6, 2019—The U.S. Small Business Administration has declared May 5-11 National Small Business Week, but what does that mean on the Main Streets in Colorado?
“We’re always happy to join in the celebration of the small businesses who produce half the Gross Domestic Product of the nation, but there is no day off for Main Street entrepreneurs constantly on guard against federal, state, and local taxes and regulations forever a threat their solvency,” said Tony Gagliardi, Colorado state director for NFIB, America’s leading small-business association.
“In passing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Congress gave small businesses the best shot in the arm they’ve ever had, which has led to record highs in hiring, compensation, and business expansion. Now, it needs to follow through by making permanent the 20 percent deduction from their income taxes that small-business owners received under Section 199A of the Act. Big businesses’ reductions were made permanent, small businesses’ reductions are set to expire after 2025.”
But What About Colorado?
Gagliardi highlighted four actions the recently concluded session of the Colorado General Assembly took that were either good or threatening for small businesses:
- Great News—With the passage of Senate Bill 6 and House Bill 1240, Colorado will begin the process of streamlining its sales tax collection, a process it should have started long ago. When completed all sales taxes, whether from online or in-store purchases, can be filed online through one portal. The portal will then portion it out to the appropriate governments. Colorado has more than 700 tax entities, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s Wayfair decision allowing states to tax online sales from out-of-state sellers necessitated Colorado getting with or losing a lot of money.
- Terrible News—Gagliardi said no one should be fooled by Senate Bill 85 calling itself the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act. “SB 85 is a lawyer-enrichment act, plain and simple. It opens small businesses to frivolous lawsuits by entrepreneurial attorneys in search of income. Notice the part allowing judges to compel employers to pick up the court costs of the employees if employees prevail but not vice versa. By the way, it’s been illegal to discriminate in salary since the Equal Pay Act of 1963.”
- Delayed Reaction—Small businesses dodged a couple of bullets when a paid sick leave proposal and one allowing state government to muscle in on providing retirement plans for private employees were both turned into studies. However, small business owners should not be surprised when these two issues resurface in the 2020 session.
Further comment on the state of small business in Colorado is available from Gagliardi at 303-325-6243.
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For more than 75 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
National Federation of Independent Business/Colorado
1580 Logan St. Suite 520
Denver, CO 80203
303-831-6099
www.nfib.com/colorado
Twitter: @NFIB_CO
