By Kathy Kennedy
State Rep., R-119
Kathy Kennedy
Every year House Republicans present their legislative priorities. This session, I along with my House Republican colleagues put forward initiatives focused on restoring public safety, establishing good faith government practices, making life more affordable, ensuring educational resources are available to all students and addressing the needs of Connecticut’s businesses.
We are all aware that the state’s small business community has been squeezed by the pandemic and policies enacted by the legislature. While large corporations and big investors have fared well financially, small businesses across Connecticut have been struggling to recover. Wall Street may be thriving, but our local main streets are still struggling.
A recent survey of small business owners reported that eight of 10 respondents experienced a decline in revenue compared with the prior year, and 60 percent reported that their expenses either remained the same or were higher than the prior year. Employers have also complained about the difficulty of finding enough staff to fill needed positions and it’s estimated that the state is still 87,000 jobs short of where we were before COVID-19 hit. The legislature needs to focus on making Connecticut more business friendly and promoting policies that help businesses grow.
Over the last few years, we have advocated to bolster the unemployment trust fund. The unemployment trust fund is primarily funded through unemployment taxes paid by businesses. Unfortunately, the fund has been drained during the pandemic, and the state had to borrow roughly $900 million from the federal government to provide benefits to workers in their time of need. Business owners are responsible for paying back this loan – a burden that will hinder their efforts to recover from the economic catastrophe that has gripped our state.
This year, we are asking the state to use COVID federal funds to shore up the underfunded and overutilized unemployment trust fund to ensure its availability to workers who will need it in the future, and to reduce the impacts of the pandemic and the sluggish recovery within our state’s business community.
Another proposal we have put forward is to increase opportunities for apprenticeships and for those interested in the trades.
We need to expand the apprenticeship tax credit to the trades that hire apprentices who complete 2,000 hours of relevant on-the-job training to encourage the hiring of additional apprentices. This tax credit is currently provided to businesses who hire registered apprentices who complete two or four-year programs in construction or qualified manufacturing programs with periods of 4,000 or 8,000 hours.
We should also allow contractors to respond to increased demand and to replenish an aging workforce by adjusting the cap on the number of apprentices that may be hired by an employer in the construction trades.
Additionally, we should extend the manufacturing apprenticeship credit to pass-through entities, which will help diversify opportunities for potential job seekers.
Finally, we are proposing tax relief for small businesses by eliminating the annual business reporting fee paid to the Secretary of the State and asking to restore the pass-through entity tax credit multiplier to 93.01 percent after the 2019-2020 budget reduced it to 87.5 percent. Restoring the multiplier credit to match the federal standard will end up saving businesses money by having a higher limit on acceptable deductions.
As always, please contact me should you have any questions about this important issue or concerns on any other topics relating to state government at Kathy.Kennedy@housegop.ct.gov or at 800-842-1423.