Indiana's State of the State Small Biz Bingo Card
Each January and February, freshly inaugurated and incumbent governors lay out their agendas in their state of the state addresses. This year, what will they have in store for small businesses? After Gov. Mike Pence’s speech on January 13 , use this bingo card to cut through the noise and clutter, and find out just how small-biz friendly this coming year could be for you and your firm. Score a bingo? Then 2015 could be bright.
In Indiana, small business owners hoped hear Gov. Mike Pence address a few key policy issues, including:
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Business Personal Property Tax Reform: NFIB supports the De Minimis Small Businesses Proposal, which NFIB State Director Barbara Quandt calls a “common sense approach.” It would eliminate the tax and the need to file for approximately 50 percent of Indiana small businesses. “In the smallest of businesses, it costs more for the local government to process the return than it receives in taxes,” Quandt says. “It also costs more for the business to file than the tax it pays.”
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Minimum Wage Increase: “It will probably will go nowhere,” says Quandt, “but will certainly be introduced.”
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Sales Tax Expansion to Services: Quandt says NFIB opposes increasing the sales tax to include services.
This is the “long” budget-writing session, which begins on Jan. 6 and will run through the end of April. In addition, to these three issues, Quandt says NFIB members will cast their vote on these issues in 2015:
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Building Moratorium
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Common Construction Wage
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Expansion of Sales Tax to Services
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High Speed Internet Connectivity—Rural Broadband
Quandt says NFIB members should contact lawmakers to make their voices heard. “Don’t assume they have heard from their constituents,” she says, adding that members should volunteer to testify when issues are presented in committee. “They may have only heard from lobbyists on the issue.”
What one issue do you most hope your governor addresses in the State of the State speech?
