With the final weekend
of the election upon us, Jon Seaton, NFIB
western region political director, today renewed
his call on gubernatorial candidate Mark
O'Keefe, U.S. Senate candidate Brian Schweitzer,
and U.S. House candidate Nancy Keenan to drop or
clarify positions small business owners consider
crucial to their abilities to remain solvent.
Specifically:
The business-equipment
tax. Incrementally reduced over the past
decade from 12 percent to 3 percent, the cutting
of the business-equipment tax has aided
innumerable Montana small businesses with their
solvency. Furthermore, the law (SB 200) that cut
the tax to 3 percent also allows a total write
off for small businesses with less than $5,000
in equipment. Equally important was a component
to further reduce the tax until its complete
elimination in 2007. This act, more than any
previous measure, will do more to keep and
attract small businesses in and to Montana. Yet,
candidate Mark O'Keefe opposes eliminating the
tax. NFIB again calls on him to drop his
opposition to eliminating the job-killing,
business-equipment tax and join his opponent,
Lt. Gov. Judy Martz, in taking a stand for small
business solvency and Montana
prosperity.
The death tax. This
business-killing financial burden on a son or
daughter who inherits his or her parent's
company makes it almost impossible for a
second-generation family member to continue
operating their mom and pop's business. NFIB
research shows that more than 70 percent of
family businesses do not survive the second
generation, and more than 87 percent never make
it to the third generation. NFIB again calls on
U.S. Senate candidate Brian Schweitzer to quit
fudging on this issue, by claiming he's for a
reduction in the tax, and join Senator Conrad
Burns who voted to kill the death
tax.
Every tax and regulation. As
a former state representative who opposed
revising the state's workers' compensation laws
(SB 315), as a lawmaker who opposed limiting
frivolous lawsuits (HB 363), as a state
Superintendent of Public Instruction who called
an initiative passed by Montana voters to limit
tax increases a 'piece of junk,' would Nancy
Keenan, as a U.S. House member vote to saddle
small businesses with the 'mother of all
regulations,' ergonomics, and would she opposed
a House-passed measure limiting punitive damage
awards against small business owners who must
spend $100,000 in court defending themselves
against often frivolous and vindictive lawsuits?
NFIB calls on her to clarify her future
intentions with regard to small business and
join her opponent, former Lt. Gov. Denny
Rehberg, in addressing the fears of the state's
small business owners, the engine of the Montana
economy.
CONTACT: Jon Seaton
206.783.1805orTonyMalandra
415.664.9685
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