Occupation Tax Relief Proposal Fails

Small business owners will not be getting a 20 percent reduction in their occupation taxes, as the measure failed in a 2-4 vote during Monday's city council meeting.

Council members and Mike Sabbagh were the two council members in support of , which would have allowed business owners who make less than $2 million in revenue to receive a tax rebate. Some 1,216 small businesses would have been eligible. Roughly 76 percent of those businesses would have received, on average, less than $30 in a rebate, according to calculations from city data.

"It may not be a lot, but if it helps one business, in my mind it's worth it," Kautz said.

Sure, it may be a "small token," Sabbagh added, but "as I've said before, if someone offered me a dollar, and I reject it, that means I just lost a dollar."

After the measure failed, Kautz said she was "disappointed, but not surprised." She was ready, however, with another proposal: complete occupational tax abatement for eligible businesses for 2012. The total amount abated would be about $100,000, she said.

"Either go big or go home," she said, as she offered her newest tax relief strategy for the city.

Councilman Tom Witts, an ardent opponent of Kautz's occupational tax relief proposal, called her idea of a complete abatement "a soundbite." As a small business owner himself, Witts added that he doesn't want small business owners to be "used" for the sake of saying the city is helping "when you're not helping." He wants relief to be viable, and more than a few dollars.

"I've made payroll for 30 years. I've fed my family, I've built my home, everything ... as an entrepreneur in small business," he said. "So, to think that I would be against small business, or that I wouldn't vote for something that I thought would in any way, shape or form benefit small business, it just goes contrary to everything I am, everything I stand for, and anyone who knows me knows that."

Various council members, including Witts, have said over the past few weeks that they either would not support the ordinance because it wasn't worth it, or that they did not have enough information to make a good decision. On Monday night, Witts was joined by Snellville Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer, Tod Warner and Barbara Bender in a vote against the occupational tax relief measure.

"I can't look any small business (owner) in the eye and say, 'Look what I did for you,'" Warner said.

Kautz made several changes to the proposal Monday night, including deleting any mention of a committee that would have made recommendations for the approval or denial of applications. The changes, however, didn't sway her opponents. In a way, it made things more contentious, as council members again mentioned not seeing the changes before the meeting to have enough time to think about them.

To that, Kautz said that council meetings were supposed to be open forums for debate, and that decisions should not be decided in any prior email exchanges.

Warner said he understood the crux of the changes, but that legislation shouldn't be decided on a whim.

"Government should do better," he said.