For Hoosier small business owners, Christmas came early this year.
In October, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s administration and lawmakers approved a plan, backed by NFIB/Indiana, to use a $250 million surplus to pay off a federal loan that kept the state’s unemployment insurance fund afloat during the recession.
State policymakers chose to avoid the penalties and interest associated with the federal loan by paying it off before Nov. 10. The penalty saves business owners $126 per employee. The Pence administration has called the penalty a “tax on hiring.”
“For small businesses, it will mean keeping the money in their companies for raises and new employees, for equipment, for other costs,” NFIB/Indiana State Director Barbara Quandt-Underwood told The Associated Press.
