BET credit suspension plan draws fire

New Hampshire Business Review reports on the backlash from businesses facing double-taxation under the Senate budget:

The Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire has launched a “full-court press” to defeat a proposal passed by the Senate Finance Committee early Thursday morning to suspend the business enterprise tax credit against the business profits tax.

But the committee’s chair, Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, D-Manchester, said the suspension was temporary, better than alternatives and was subject to compromise.

“This is one of these difficult choices. We are in difficult economic times,” D'Allesandro told NHBR. “If everybody plays a role we might be able to get through and save some people’s services.”

D’Allesandro emphasized that the suspension in the credit, while “painful,” would be offset by the 10 years proposed to recoup any credits, as opposed to the current five. And it was preferable to a capital gains tax, the estate tax and putting off a planned decrease in the insurance tax -- all of which were contained in the House budget, but eliminated by the Senate Finance Committee.

The BIA opposes those taxes as well and argues that businesses already contribute enough. Any more could further damage a deteriorating economy.