With more than a billion dollars of ARPA funding to be appropriated this year, the Legislature continues to find new ways to tax businesses as they struggle with ongoing pandemic impacts. Even as they work to provide a new grant program to support for businesses, they are appropriating $6 million less than promised last year. Current efforts underway to add to employers’ cost burden include:

• $8 million unemployment insurance tax increase
• $11 million increase on software as a service (also known as cloud tax)
• $4 million for a corporate minimum tax increase
• $17.7 million increase in health care premiums for businesses purchasing on the Health Care Exchange
• $2.8 million increase on the commercial and residential property tax transfer tax
• Unknown fiscal impact of a new $15 minimum wage and
• Unknown cost of the Clean Heat Standard to be determined by the Public Utility Commission

All this comes at a difficult time for businesses who continue to struggle with a constrained labor force, higher wages, reduced hours, 7% inflation and endless supply chain problems. Please reach out to your legislators and help them understand the real-world situations in your businesses.