Wilt Introduces Two Pro-Business Bills

RICHMOND- Ahead of the 2018 General Assembly Session, Delegate Wilt introduced two bills on Monday that will benefit small businesses.

The first, HB 512, is a measure to permanently eliminate the accelerated sales tax requirement that currently exists for many retail businesses. Currently, retailers that have gross sales over a certain amount are required to pay in an estimated amount for their June sales tax collections before the month is even over. For budget purposes, this allows the Commonwealth to count these revenues in the current fiscal year, rather than the next.

“The accelerated sales tax was implemented during the great recession to boost revenue, but I feel the time has come to phase out and permanently end this budget gimmick,” said Delegate Wilt. “For businesses that may be struggling or simply operate on tight margins, this can be a hardship.”

The second bill, HB 513, revises the definition of small business for government procurement purposes. This will ensure business size is appropriately assessed against specific industry standards, as opposed to a single arbitrary threshold that applies to all businesses regardless of the unique aspects of a given industry. In government procurement, some preference is often given to certified small businesses to give them an equal opportunity to compete against large companies that may otherwise always have the advantage. This legislation is the result of discussion and consideration of this issue by the Virginia Small Business Commission. Delegate Wilt was elected Chairman of the Commission in October.

“Given the many new industries that have emerged in the last few decades, I think it’s appropriate to reevaluate our current standard for how we determine what constitutes a small business for procurement purposes. It just makes more sense to compare the size of a business against its own peers, as opposed to other sectors that bear no resemblance in the way operations are conducted.”

The 2018 General Assembly Session will convene in Richmond on Wednesday, January 10.