Despite surpluses in both 2019 and 2020, Governor Inslee signed B&O tax increases into law in February 2020. These increases are hitting businesses RIGHT NOW. Right now, when businesses are hard pressed because of the COVID-19 response.
Let that sink in.
In 2019, Governor Jay Inslee signed a plan to tax businesses, ostensibly to make higher education more affordable. The legislation that passed increased the Business and Occupation (B&O) tax from 1.5% to 1.8%!!!!
But after discovering that it would be difficult to collect, the Legislature last session passed a new bill designed to streamline collections and set a uniform (higher) tax rate for most businesses at 1.75%.
Governor Inslee made a point to sign the new bill in time for the first quarter 2020 B&O tax filings. You can't make this stuff up.
We should call a special session to grant tax relief so that our businesses can recover from the COVID-19 crisis.
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