(Stock photo, KSL TV)
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s House Democrats say they’re crafting a bill that would kick back the state income tax small businesses in Utah have to pay on their federal Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, loans.
Rep. Suzanne Harrison, D-Draper, says “this bill will offer a grant to those businesses that borrowed $150,000 or less and have seen a loss from 2019 to 2020.”
She says businesses could get up to $5,000 back in tax breaks.
“This is for small businesses that borrowed a small amount of money that have really been struggling. And we as policy makers should help them and now is the time for us to step up and do that,” she said.
Harrison adds that while the federal government has waived those taxes, the state hasn’t.
“Although Congress exempted forgiven PPP loans from federal income taxation, Utah currently plans to treat the forgiven loans as taxable income. This means many small business owners who accepted PPP loans to keep their businesses open during the pandemic are on the hook for thousands of dollars in taxes owed to the state,” a statement from the House Democrat reads.
House Democrats say they plan to make the bill public and introduce it sometime this week. Time will run out soon; the legislative session ends March 5, 2021.