[chambernews] Fwd: Monthly MCCE column/ taxes repealed

[Karen Amundson (Chamber)]

It's Monday and I'm just full of news for you!


<http://www.mnchamber.com/>

*Business voice fuels repeal of business taxes*

**

*By William Blazar*

**

*Minnesota businesses, take a collective bow: The onerous sales taxes 
enacted last year on business-to-business transactions are history. 
Elected officials clearly heard the message from our United for Jobs 
Coalition: Enough is enough. Don't make it any more expensive to do 
business in Minnesota.

The Legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton repealed the taxes in one of the 
first major actions of the session. The swift action is a testimonial to 
the messages delivered by companies of all types and sizes across the 
state.  Your voices were heard as the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce 
partnered with local chambers, trade associations and hundreds of 
individual businesses to apply a full-court press at the Capitol.*

**

*The 2013 Legislature extended the sales tax to three B2B services: 
repairs of business equipment and machines; purchases of 
telecommunications equipment by telecommunications providers; warehouse 
and storage services. The negative impact of these taxes was underscored 
in media across the state.*

**

*The TwinWest Chamber of Commerce and Minnesota Precision Manufacturers 
Association invited legislators to a tour of Cass Screw Machine Products 
in Brooklyn Center. "We don't want this to be held up as a bargaining 
chip," said Steve Wise, company president. "I have five buildings full 
of machines. This (tax) is going to cost me at least $12,000 more a year."*

**

*The Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce, along with representatives of 
Hallett Dock Co. and ME Global Inc., met with the Duluth News Tribune. 
ME Elecmetal, which owns the Duluth foundry, spent $24 million to expand 
the facility, noted President Andy Fulton. "These laws weren't in 
effect. If I were to do it today, I couldn't do as much."*

**

*The Marshall Area Chamber of Commerce and Ralco, a local manufacturer, 
advanced the message. Ralco is committed to Marshall, said Brian 
Knochemus, company vice president. But, he added, "It (the tax) really 
impacts our appetite for investment."*

**

*The Brainerd Lakes Chamber and CTC Telecommunications told their story. 
"The sales tax works against the governor's own plan to improve download 
speeds for all Minnesota residents and businesses by 2015," said Kristi 
Westbrock, chief operating officer.*

**

*The Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce and Strategic 
Warehousing in Eagan quantified the impact of the taxes: jobs lost to 
Iowa. "A repeal can't come soon enough," said Kathy Forester, company 
general manager. "It won't undo what's been done, but it can stop the 
bleeding."*

**

*The Minnesota Chamber welcomes the repeal of the B2B taxes -- and we 
view it as just the first step. Minnesotans are just beginning to feel 
the impact of the more than $2 billion in new taxes passed last year, 
which fell disproportionately on small and medium-sized businesses. The 
state's projected budget surplus of $2.3 billion affords additional 
opportunity to pass tax relief that will keep Minnesota businesses 
competitive with our peers.*

**

*William Blazar is senior vice president of public affairs and business 
development at the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce -- www.mnchamber.com 
<http://www.mnchamber.com/>.*

**

****

This email was automatically generated by ChamberMaster.

No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com <http://www.avg.com>
Version: 2014.0.4354 / Virus Database: 3722/7241 - Release Date: 03/24/14



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://dala.kanabec.net/pipermail/chambernews/attachments/20140324/e652e1fc/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: karen.vcf
Type: text/x-vcard
Size: 293 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://dala.kanabec.net/pipermail/chambernews/attachments/20140324/e652e1fc/attachment.vcf>