Evaluation of Virginia s BPOL Tax and Industry Profitability

1. Evaluation of Virginia’s BPOL Tax and Industry Profitability Presented to: Small Business Subgroup, August, 18, 2010 Initially Prepared for: Virginia Retail Federation, November 6, 2009

2. Background BPOL = business, professional and occupational license [tax] VA law authorizes localities to impose license tax on businesses and professionals Calculating taxes Tax rates calculation against gross receipts* Tax rates relative to total profits (need to measure tax burden). Also known as Effective Tax Rate. Effective tax rate (%) = BPOL taxes / total profits VA Retail Federation interest How BPOL compares to current profit margins of all industry sectors

3. 1978 VA General Assembly Set Rate Caps Based on Business Classifications Set max rates after studying industry industry profit margins But tax still collected based on receipt Implicit assumption is that businesses should pay equal taxes as a percentage of profits rather than gross receipts Rates have not been revised for 30 years

4. Conclusions VA retailers pay a higher percentage of profits than the industry average Widespread differences in effective BPOL tax rates by industry and county/city

5. 64% of VA Localities Collect BPOL Taxes (Fiscal Year 2007)* All 39 cities collect BPOL 47 of 95 counties collect BPOL BPOL accounts for 6.4% of tax revenue for VA cities BPOL account for 4.0% of all tax revenue for VA counties

6. BPOL Business Categories Vary Across Localities VA law doesn’t define categories 80 localities have 5 major categories shown below Contractors Retailers Finances, real estate and professional services Repair, personal and business services Wholesale 6 localities use 9 categories; some have less than 4; some have no BPOL Relative importance of BPOL ranked after real estate, personal property tax, and sales tax

7. Localities in Blue Impose BPOL Taxes

8. Average BPOL Tax Rate per $100 Gross Receipts Vary by Industry, 2008 Contractors ($0.14 per $100) Retailers ($0.17 per $100) Finance, real estate and professional services ($0.39 per $100) Repair, personal and business services ($0.26 per $100) Wholesale ($0.03 per $100 Gross Receipt)

9. BPOL Taxes Vary By City and County

10. Effective BPOL Tax Varies

11. Within Retail Industry, Effective BPOL Rates also Vary

12. Variation by Locality: Retail

13. Impact on Growth? Virginia specific studies on taxes, job creation, business expansion do not exist National studies (Romer and Romer, 2007) show tax increases have a “large, rapid and highly statically significant negative impact on output.” Reduces investment Reduces gross domestic product

14. 1995 Tax Executive Institute Filed Brief: Repeal BPOL Taxes BPOL based on gross receipts is “blind” to businesses ability to pay tax Unfair without considering profits versus gross receipts Biased against new businesses because they often don’t earn profits in first year Inconsistent across jurisdictions prevents adoption of best practices

15. 2001 Joint Subcommittee of VA General Assembly 18 month study: VA state and local tax structure Assessed current tax code, heard testimony Some suggested repealing BPOL and replace with increased sales or corporate income taxes Faced with worsening economic conditions, decided not to enact dramatic change in VA tax codes…no change to BPOL

16. Alternatives to BPOL? Replace it with other taxes? Consider creating consistency across jurisdictions Some potential improvements are clear Tax profits rather than gross receipts Create consistency across industries Exempt start ups