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1,200 R.I. firms face closure over taxes
By PBN Staff
(Updated, 1 p.m.)
PROVIDENCE – Hundreds of businesses across Rhode Island have been told to either pay the state sales tax revenue or close their doors, The Associated Press reported today.
Roughly 1,200 firms will be forced to shut down unless they pay the overdue sales tax immediately, the AP said. The move was first reported by The Providence Journal.
The R.I. Division of Taxation has hand-delivered hundreds of letters informing businesses that they have been operating without a permit since June 30 because of their failure to pay sales tax revenue, according to the AP. State officials say they believe the businesses are withholding sales tax revenue from the state.
Bill Vernon, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business in Rhode Island, issued a statement this afternoon calling on state officials to halt the closings.
“With one of the highest state unemployment rates in the country, it is beyond stunning that Rhode Island officials would march down Main Street shutting down 1,200 businesses, leaving proprietors and thousands of workers on the street without a paycheck,” Vernon said. “ To say this couldn’t come at a worse time would be the understatement of the year.”
Vernon also said “it appears that state officials also made numerous mistakes in their recent campaign to padlock private businesses.”
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I see this as just another sign that the Governor and the entire State Legislature are throwing cement blocks to drowning businesses. This Governor started his first term with such vigor, such encouragement and so much energy. By the time the Speaker of the House, the Senate President and the Finance Chairmen of the Senate and House got hold of him, they showed him who REALLY runs this state. The Governor may be a great guy, someone to have a beer with ( like the President does with his critics), but he's been a total failure to R.I. manufacturing. In the very location where the Industrial Revolution began, we have turned into a state with two visions: service industry such as McDonalds and financial industry such as Fidelity. With RI huge amount of people who can neither read or write, they won't be knocking on Fidelity's door. Fidelity hires a majority of their people from Massachusetts and McDonalds hires your local "kid next door". There is no longer any pride in this state that once was the Jewelry Capital, the Silver Capital, the masters of the machine tool industry for the entire world. What is RI leading the nation in now? Unemployment.
A sad look at a sad situation. Unless the General Assembly is overhauled very soon, RI will be the "Haiti of New England".
Richard Deery
Let me get this straight... according to Bill Vernon it is acceptable to collect the state sales tax and then sit on it until a business sees fit to transfer it to the state. According to this article, for some RI businesses, that time was going to be never. When I purchase something and pay a sales tax I take for granted that it is transferred to the state and is used to keep this state running. If these 1,200 firms did not hold onto money that was not theirs in the first place they would not be facing closure at the hands of the state.
While not from RI, I am a member of NFIB and a small businessman. And I do not agree with Mr. Vernon on his stand on this issue. To me, this is another instance of keeping those in business that don't belong. Play by the rules or GET OUT!