The Hartford Small Business Alliance isn’t buying into Mayor Eddie Perez’s solution for upcoming massive tax hikes. Instead, it offered up its own $6.2 million tax relief plan while it takes a year to analyze Hartford’s tax problems and come up with a long-term solution.
Attorney Gregory W. Piecuch of O’Connell, Flaherty & Attmore, the group’s legal counsel, presented the plan to grassroots Business for Downtown Hartford and other concerned business owners last week. Small businesses in Hartford are looking for a way to avoid tax increases that, in some cases, can soar to as much as 125 percent.
Of the $6.2 million, $4.1 million would come from the city itself via spending cuts, while $2.1 million would be raised from among Hartford’s businesses, Piecuch said.
The attorney assured the group that the $4.1 million was a reasonable sum to ask of the city. For example, Hartford recently saved itself $3 million alone in choosing a different purchaser for Hartford residents’ tax liens.
“You’ve just found $3 million of the $4.1 million you need,” Piecuch said.
As for the $2.1 million to come from businesses, Piecuch said that amount would ensure that no small business has more than a 40 percent tax increase.
Members of the Hartford Small Business Alliance, which was formed specifically to deal with the tax hikes, acknowledge that the tax relief plan is itself not a long-term solution.
Short-Term Idea
“I hate to use the word ‘Band-Aid’ but that’s all it is,” said member Paul Mozzicato, who runs Mozzicato de Pasquale Bakery along with his family.
But this will buy time to get an independent and transparent study committee together to take a more comprehensive look at the city’s tax structure.
Piecuch said that under Alliance’s plan, 92.5 percent of businesses will see a tax increase of less than 12 percent, while almost all businesses will see an increase of less than 15 percent.
The group rejects the mayor’s proposal to phase in the original plan over a five-year period to ease the impact on businesses. Skeptics have voiced doubt on that plan’s legality, and Piecuch said it still eventually implements what he called a flawed tax revaluation.
Mozzicato and other members of the alliance say they have gotten positive feedback on the plan from the MetroHartford Alliance, and have met with the mayor and City Hall to discuss their plans.
The group hasn’t hired any lobbyists, but it has contacted state lawmakers to get the plan approved during the special session on the budget.
“It’s our last, best chance to solve this legislatively,” Piecuch said.
