BPOL - BUSINESS TAX LASTEST INFO.

Attention Chamber Member Business Owners:

Reducing the BPOL tax was proposed during Tuesday’s Prince William Board of County Supervisors meeting as our Supervisors considered the Fiscal 2010 budget.

Supervisor Marty Nohe proposed that businesses grossing less than $250,000 pay at a zero rate – effectively exempting them from the tax. This is one of the few BPOL tax reductions that Virginia allows local jurisdictions to make on their own – without obtaining approval from the General Assembly.

The Board of County Supervisors took a “straw vote” on reducing BPOL – a final vote will not occur until the Board votes on the entire budget.

• Supervisors Nohe, Covington and May voted YES to reduce BPOL taxes.

• Supervisors Stewart, Caddigan, Jenkins, Principi and Stirrup voted AGAINST reducing BPOL taxes.

You can see that if the “straw vote” had been a real vote, business would have been the loser and there would be no reduction in BPOL. However, if we can change two Supervisors’ minds, we can achieve a victory for business. Several of the supervisors were not firm in voting NO – they had lots of questions. Hearing from individual business owners could change their votes to a YES!

HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1. Call, email or write the Board of County Supervisors. Contact Chairman Corey Stewart and the Board of Supervisors. Email bocs@pwcgov.org to email the entire board.
2. Tell the Board of County Supervisors that it must seek ways to provide tax relief for business as it considers a real estate tax rate that will significantly raise commercial real estate taxes.
3. Suggest reductions in BPOL as one way to reduce business taxes. Explain to the Supervisors how BPOL is a tax that you must pay on your gross receipts . . . even when you experience a business loss!
4. Identify other business taxes that you pay that could be reduced to provide some relief in these challenging economic times.