Monday letters: All benefit from license fee cap

The best thing I can say about claims that capping business license fees would help big business while hurting small business is that they’re bunk (“Flat-rate license would hurt small businesses,” May 4).

I can also say they reveal a surprising lack of understanding about the kinds of businesses that drive our economy.

Yes, capping business license fees at $100 per business, regardless of the number of locations, would help big companies, but it would be a big help to small businesses, too.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses account for 47 percent of the state’s employer firms and employ about half of the state’s private-sector workforce.

A lot of these businesses pay more than $100 a year for their business licenses.

To claim that there’s a “fairness issue” to consider when capping business license fees is simply wrong. Saving a few hundred bucks means a lot more to a small, family business than a big company.

Capping business license fees would mean less revenue for city coffers, initially, at least, but that’s OK. When you lower taxes on businesses — regardless of their size — you stimulate growth. You make it easier for them to expand and create jobs, and you help broaden the tax base.

Surely, that’s an idea local government can support.

S.C. Director

National Federation

of Independent Business

This story was originally published May 9, 2015 at 7:30 PM with the headline "Monday letters: All benefit from license fee cap."