Oklahoma Watchdog: Small businesses looking for simpler tax system

Dec 4th, 2011 | By | Category: Lobbyists & Lobbying

From Oklahoma Watchdog

By Peter J. Rudy On December 1, 2011

At its final meeting on Thursday, the Task Force on Comprehensive Tax Reform heard from some representatives of small businesses about how they would want the tax code changed. Jerrod Shouse, State Director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, says above all, small business owners want a simpler system.  ”Anything that keeps it easy for us, where we don’t have to spend the afternoon with our accountant to figure things out, that’s more time we can spend back at our business, using our energy there and growing the economy,” said Shouse.

Attorney and CPA Ron Barber told the task force that eliminating some or all of the tax credits and incentives in the tax code in order to lower rates for everyone would be a good idea.  He says tax credits, “lend themselves to gamesmanship and are targeted towards special groups and are inherently distasteful to people.”

Shouse agrees that tackling the tax credit and exemptions would generally help small businesses.  ”You may do away with some deductions over here that we use, but if that results in a lower income tax rate, it may be very neutral for us and make it easier which would be welcome.”

There has been discussion during previous meetings about whether eliminating the income tax would help attract businesses from out of state, but Shouse says he’s more concerned about the small businesses that are already in Oklahoma and trying to grow.  Small businesses are often set up in a way that they are taxed using the personal income tax rate, so Shouse believes that any tax relief small businesses get will be put back into the companies through hiring more workers and expanding the number of locations.

Shouse, Barber and the third speaker at the meeting, CPA Bill Lohrey, all told task force members that online sales should be taxed at the same rate as purchases in brick and mortar stores, if possible.  Shouse called it an issue of fairness.  Barber told the task force that online sales are only going to grow, so it’s time to tackle the situation.  He believes it’s probably better to have the seller pay the tax rather than the buyer, but added that it’s something that probably has to be done on a federal level or in cooperation with other states.

The task force must present a report with suggestions to Governor Fallin and legislative leaders by the end of the month.

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