Small business group applauds Legislature, governor for their accomplishments
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Suzanne Budge, Idaho State Director, [email protected]
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, [email protected]
BOISE, Idaho, April 12, 2022—In light of today’s dismal Small Business Economic Trends report, issued monthly by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the Idaho state director for the nation’s largest small-business association said some significant accomplishments to come out the recently adjourned session of the Idaho Legislature hold out hope for an improved economy and make facing this April 18 and future Tax Days quite a bit easier to bear.
“If you looked past all the sideshows of this session, there were some significant accomplishments, especially for the small-business owners of the state who needed every ounce of help they could get to keep their doors open to customers and barred against the unwanted intruders of labor shortages, supply-chain disruptions, inflation, and soaring gas prices,” said Suzanne Budge, Idaho state director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s leading small-business association.
“I agree with Governor Little that there has not been a more successful session than this one in a very long time.” Budge singled out four bills, three that passed and one that fortunately failed, as hallmarks of a great legislative session. NFIB Idaho lobbied extensively for their passage or defeat.
- House Bill 436 was the crowning achievement for small business. It provides $600 million in one-time relief for taxpayers and lowered the state’s top income tax rate to 6% from 6.5%.
- House Bill 450 sent small-business owners an even stronger message than HB 436, letting them know their unemployment insurance taxes would not spike on them for the next two years. Employers are the only ones who pay into the UI trust fund from which unemployment benefits are paid out to those in need of them.
- House Bill 444 extended liability protection against unfair COVID-related lawsuits small-business owners were potential victims of.
- Defeat of House Bill 741, which would have made Idaho the state with the highest sales tax in the nation, was another significant accomplishment to come out of this year’s legislative session.
“There were other measures of importance to small business,” said Budge, “but the passage of House Bills 436, 450, and 444, along with the defeat of House Bill 741, overshadowed everything else. I give most of the credit for their passage or defeat to NFIB’s small-business-owning membership who responded to our Action Alerts in record numbers.”
Keep up with the latest on Idaho small business at www.nfib.com/idaho.
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For 78 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 association. Since its 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/Idaho
802 W. Bannock, Ste. 301
Boise, ID 83702
208-345-6632
www.nfib.com/idaho
Twitter: NFIB_ID
