Menu
Tax Notes logo

Wyden Eyes Cash Payments to Businesses

Posted on Apr. 27, 2020

The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee wants the next coronavirus relief package to include an immediate tax rebate for small businesses.

Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in an April 24 call with reporters that he wants businesses with gross receipts of $1 million or less to receive a check equal to 30 percent of gross receipts up to $75,000. “This is about as simple as it gets,” Wyden said.

Only businesses with fewer than 50 employees would be eligible for the tax rebate.

Just like the economic impact payments now being distributed to taxpayers, the tax rebate for small businesses would be handled by the IRS to make the process more efficient, Wyden said.

The idea was initially pitched by Wyden and fellow Finance Committee member Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., in March as part of the Save America’s Main Street Act (S. 3549), which also included an employee retention tax credit that was ultimately added to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (P.L. 116-136).

Wyden said he has been speaking with leaders of both parties about the tax rebate and hopes it will become part of upcoming coronavirus relief legislation. Wyden was joined on the call by Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., who introduced her own version of the measure in the House.

Dean’s bill, however, would apply to businesses with up to 50 employees and $1.5 million or less in gross receipts. The tax rebate would be equal to 30 percent of gross receipts up to $120,000. It would also apply to the self-employed and charitable organizations.

Dean said the increased amount was in part because small business owners have been unable to access the Paycheck Protection Program and many small businesses are unable to take on more debt.

Timing of Next Bill

President Trump signed H.R. 266 on April 24 to replenish the exhausted small business loan program. Lawmakers, especially Democrats, are already considering more legislation to help individuals and businesses, but Republicans and Democrats may find themselves at an impasse over state and local funding.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was adamant at a press conference that there won’t be a bill without funding for state and local governments, and she suggested that they could receive more than $500 billion in the next measure.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has publicly opposed a major funding proposal for states in the next legislation. Some Republicans want limitations applied to the funding, including preventing states from applying government aid to pension programs.

Lawmakers are expected back in Congress May 4.

Copy RID