Issue Position: The LLC Tax

Issue Position

I oppose the "LLC Tax" which is essentially an income tax on small businesses. With record unemployment, there could be no worse time for this tax. To grow our way out of the economic downturn, we must lower taxes, not raise them.

Some facts about the "LLC Tax":

* Passed as part of the budget bill in June late in the process without any public hearings.
* Creates a 5% Interest and Dividends tax on LLC distributions. This is a tax on the individuals receiving the distributions, not the LLC itself.
* There is not another state in the Union that treats these distributions as Interest and Dividends -- they are treated as income. The Federal government treats them as income.
* When added to the business profits tax of 8.5%, this results in an effective 13.5% tax rate.
* Creates a very expensive book-keeping burden for small business.
* Current draft rules will collect the tax retroactively for all of 2009, despite it not being passed until June of 2009, and without the rules being written as of Jan 16, 2010.
* This tax is a desperate attempt to make up for over-spending, but will cost NH jobs at a time we can't afford it.

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