SMALL BUSINESS

From bakeries to bodegas, delis to dry cleaners, and florists to food distributors, family-owned small businesses of all types in District 15 have been devastated by the months-long pandemic lockdowns imposed by the governor and mayor, as well as by the slow and inconsistent pace of reopening New York City’s economy.
 

The Partnership for New York City estimates that roughly a third of the city’s 240,000 small businesses are gone for good, which means the loss of more than half a million neighborhood jobs—that’s one out of six jobs in the entire city. The city’s unemployment rate is 12.9%—more than double the national rate. And this “official” figure omits people who gave up trying to find a job.
 

Getting New York City—and District 15 residents—back into the workforce should be the City Council’s Number One priority. When federal pandemic relief has been exhausted, what then? Never has it been more important for the City Council to pass regulatory and tax policies that support family-owned businesses, and promote economic diversity to create well-paying, permanent, full-time jobs in our communities.

• To encourage people who have lost their jobs during the pandemic to start new businesses, lower taxes on unincorporated trades and businesses, as well as on the sole proprietors, S-Corporations and partnerships that pay the individual income tax with a temporary tax credit that starts in tax year 2022 and phases out in tax year 2025.

• Impose a five-year moratorium on Albany’s plastic bag ban to encourage shoppers to buy more at Mom & Pop retailers and grocers; suspend the $250 first offense fine and the $500 subsequent offense fine for five years; and make it easier to recycle single-use plastic bags by having “bag drops” at locations where plastic bottles and aluminum cans are gathered for recycling. As big box stores were not forced to close down during the pandemic, they should continue to be subject to the Bag Waste Reduction Law.

• Create opportunity zones throughout District 15 to help our neighborhoods recover from the economic effects of prolonged COVID lockdowns by promoting new investment in distressed communities. Through 2019, nearly $75 billion in private capital flowed into opportunity zones, with 70 percent of that money being directed to communities that would otherwise have been overlooked.