Pennsylvania Chambers press legislature to fix unemployment tax rate

More than 60 Chambers of Commerce across Pennsylvania hope the state legislature will fix what they say is an unfair increase in unemployment compensation taxes.

In a letter to members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the coalition asked legislators to pass S. B. 1083 that would provide a targeted temporary exemption to an estimated 2,700 employers with lower experience-based unemployment compensation tax rates that are being assessed a rate increase because they were forced into pandemic related shutdowns. Those shutdowns caused their rate to revert to the default level, the coalition said. S.B. 1083 would allow them to maintain the lower tax rate they had earned.

“The pandemic created many challenges for employers, and being able to keep their doors open and maintain their staff was one of the greatest hurdles they faced,” said Pennsylvania Chamber President and CEO Luke Bernstein. “Small business owners who have already withstood so much cannot afford the added cost of a tax hike based on circumstances that were outside of their control.”

Current law requires that an employer who reports no payroll in one of the last three years should lose their experience-based rating and revert to the higher default rating. Businesses that were forced to shut down during the pandemic should not see a tax increase, the coalition wrote, and that the increase is an unjust policy that impacts employers with a history of not laying off workers.

“We appreciate the work of state Sen. Dave Argall, state Rep. Tim Twardzik, the Wolf administration, and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle who have supported this bill,” Bernstein added. “Together with our statewide local chamber partners, we are urging lawmakers to help our small businesses by getting this critical bill to the governor’s desk before the end of the legislative session.”