Little; action should hold off tax hike
BOISE, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK)-Governor Brad Little says he has taken action that will avoid a tax increase for Idaho business owners and employers.
Little approved the transfer of $200 million in federal coronavirus relief funding to the Idaho Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.
Without the transfer, Little said businesses would have had to pay nearly double in unemployment insurance taxes next year to keep the trust fund solvent.
Little said the move would encourage more hiring by preventing tax increases for businesses of more than $300 per employee.
The Idaho chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), which represents 4,000 small business owners in the state, praised the move.
“The whole art to restoring the nation’s economy begins with luring small business owners back to re-open and re-hire, and one of the most important ways to do that is to not hit them with additional costs. Your plan to use CARES Act money instead of raising their unemployment insurance taxes is the right one to take,” NFIB Idaho State Director Suzanne Budge wrote to Governor Little. “States that can resist piling on more costs, such as UI tax increases, will be the ones to emerge faster from the coronavirus-induced recession. Small business thanks you for taking the right approach to solving the UI Trust Fund shortfall.”
The state has taken other steps to reallocate federal relief money. Those actions include Return to Work incentives, cash payments totaling $75 million to approximately 8,700 small businesses, through the Idaho Rebound grant program, and allowing local governments to use relief dollars in support of local businesses.
