Pursue tax relief for small businesses, including healthcare cash grants for qualifying employers and a tax credit program for small employers that hire
Small business continues to be the backbone of the Tennessee economy, creating nearly 7 out of 10 new jobs in the state. Yet the tax burdens on small business have not reflected their contribution to the economy. We have established a statewide taskforce to work with the legislature and the governor’s administration to find effective tax relief measures–including healthcare cash grants for qualifying employers and a tax credit program for small employers that hire.
Continue commonsense reforms in workers’ compensation and unemployment systems
While progress has been made in the workers’ comp and unemployment systems, much work is before us. We continue to solicit direct feedback from our members to improve these programs, with much debate in Nashville expected the next few years.
Ensure open budget process that protects small business from backdoor tax increases
Tennessee’s budget process becomes more like Washington’s each year. A late-session bill initially designed to make technical corrections to the tax code has become a vehicle for significant tax increases. We will continue to urge legislators to ensure Tennessee’s budget process doesn’t put small business at risk.
Limit runaway lawsuit costs borne by small businesses, saving substantial legal and settlement costs
A stunning 90% of worldwide lawsuits are filed in our country, while 1 in 5 NFIB members will face a frivolous lawsuit over the course of running their business. Increasingly large judgments for medical malpractice, general liability and product liability cases mean higher costs for Tennessee’s small businesses. Reasonable limits on non-economic damages would go a long way in protecting the state’s engine of job growth from the expenses of a runaway court system.
Reinstate 2 percent vendors’ compensation for collection and remittance of sales tax
Small businesses currently serve the state as an unpaid tax collector. From 1947 until 2000, small business owners were allowed to keep 2% of the sales tax they collected to offset their time and expense in this collection. This compensation, discontinued in 2000, recognizes that vendors incur expenses like computers, software, and bookkeepers to collect and remit taxes.
