1.29.18
Suggested lead: Efforts to boost businesses and help
jobs flourish in rural Washington continue to take center stage at the state
Capitol. Dan Frizzell has
that story.
Wrap (:64 total): Rural economic development seems to be the
phrase on lots of lips in Olympia these days.
Representative Mike Chapman, a freshman Democrat from Port Angeles, is leading
the charge with several pieces of promising legislation geared to help small
businesses and create jobs in communities a long way from Seattle.
He’s also working a bill focusing on large-scale companies that may have
soured on the big-city life.
CHAPMAN:
“That is geared toward attracting manufacturers from the I-5 corridor
into rural Washington by lowering the rate only in rural Washington.
Instead of a company maybe looking at Kent or Auburn,
maybe they’ll say ‘you know what, it would be worth it to me to move my
manufacturing business and continue to grow and expand and pay a lower tax
rate.’” [:18]
The tax he’s hoping to reduce is the Washington’s B&O . . .
which is also the target in his small business legislation.
If he’s successful, 80 percent of the small businesses in the state would
see their B&O liability drop to zero, and others would enjoy a tax credit as
large as $5000 a year. None of his
bills have hit the governor’s desk yet, but it’s only day 22 of the 60-day
session. In Olympia, I’m Dan
Frizzell.