Murkowski Votes for Small Business Tax Repeal That Saves Alaska Millions
Senator: “This Three Percent Bill is One-Hundred Percent Bipartisan”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Lisa Murkowski today voted to pass H.R. 674, the 3% Withholding Repeal and Job Creation Act, to repeal a three percent withholding tax on government contractors, set to become law in 2013, in a bipartisan effort to improve the economic planning being done by small businesses nationwide – and had the following statement afterwards:
“I co-sponsored similar legislation in the Senate to repeal this very policy earlier this year because the costs are needless and trickle to everyday Alaskans,” said Murkowski. “Oversight of bad businesses is a worthwhile goal, but we don’t need to add one more taxpayer expense or hurdle to job creation nationwide.
“This is a bill that passed the House of Representatives with an astonishing 421 votes, 183 of which were Democrats; this is a bill that the President supports. I hope today’s vote is the beginning of a greater focus on cooperation, because this three percent bill is one hundred percent bipartisan – and will save the Alaskan economy millions of dollars.”
About the vote: Currently, 3 percent is scheduled to be automatically taken out of payments to federal or state contractors starting in 2013 to prevent tax avoidance. The law hurts small businesses’ bottom lines and prevents them from using these funds to buy supplies and hire workers. Senator Murkowski was one of 22 Senate Republicans to co-sponsor this legislation, along with 6 of her Democratic colleagues. The State of Alaska’s conservative estimate of the cost of the withholding tax to them is $13.5 million.
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