Rhode Island’s leading small-business advocate as lieutenant governor has sent mixed signals to that constituency since taking over as governor last month.
On April 12, Gov. Daniel J. McKee unveiled a $20 million grant program for small businesses, using 2020 funding from federal pandemic relief. Programs that directly target the state’s struggling small businesses are desperately needed.
But what should equally concern state leaders is the long-term survival of thousands of other still-endangered businesses. Just because they are a little bigger than the state’s most vulnerable businesses targeted by the new program or are not in imminent danger of closing doesn’t mean their survival is assured.
It’s that group that seems detached from another proposal McKee recently submitted to the General Assembly.
Gov. McKee wants to tax forgiven Paycheck Protection Program loans greater than $150,000, to generate $67.7 million for the state over two fiscal years.
The governor’s office says he wants to be fair to those that have managed without a PPP loan because businesses that had loans forgiven can afford the proposed tax.
First, pitting businesses against each other to help justify a budget proposal is unseemly for a self-described pro-business governor.
And while some businesses could afford the tax, for others it will be just one more unexpected financial burden. Lawmakers need to remind the governor the latter is something the state has no business creating for employers amid a pandemic-induced recession that isn’t done claiming victims.