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Santa Rosa County Commission Chairman Sam Parker will ask fellow board members Monday to schedule a public hearing to discuss repealing Santa Rosa County’s local business tax.
“Right now many business owners are challenged by high costs associated with inflation,” Parker said in an email. “I think that eliminating the county’s Occupational License Tax (business tax) is a sensible way that we can help the business owners here in Santa Rosa County.”
He said he sees the tax cut as a way of encouraging entrepreneurship and hard work by removing any unnecessary costs or regulations.
Justia, a U.S. law website, states that occupational license taxes allow counties and municipalities to apply a fee “for the privilege of engaging in or managing any business, profession, or occupation within its jurisdiction.”
Santa Rosa County’s business taxes couldn’t be called oppressive. County Attorney Tom Dannheisser said the fees “don’t amount to much” in the larger scheme of county operating funds. County Administrator Brad Baker said the county collected approximately $140,000 in local business taxes last year.
Dannheisser said the commission has talked about abolishing the tax in the past, and added that he’s not sure what the purpose of the tax really even is.
“Philosophically speaking why should you pay a tax just to have a business?” he asked rhetorically.
Hate ’em or just dislike them strongly, occupational taxes are widespread across the spectrum of county commerce. Everything from produce markets to cemeteries have to pay the tax man, and everyone from fortune tellers and clairvoyants to junk dealers are required to pay their fair share.
According to the county’s code of ordinances, the occupational license tax generally ranges from tens of dollars to hundreds of dollars depending on the size and type of business endeavor.
Retail stores pay a flat $30 tax. Cafe and restaurant owners pay business taxes based on the number of seats they have in their building – $18.75 for 1-30 seats, scaling up to $75 for 150 or more seats.
Contractors pay based on the number persons employed during a license year, capping at $468.75 for 201 or more employees. The proprietors of moving picture shows, theaters, including drive-in theaters, pay a tax based on the population of the city they occupy or are closest to, starting at $30 for populations less than 5,000 and increasing up to $450 for populations more than 20,000.
Traveling medicine show operators are required by ordinance to divvy up $75 if they want to peddle their wares in Santa Rosa County, and the work of emigrant and labor agents must be frowned upon somewhere up the chain of county command. Those poor people catch a $1,875 tab, the highest of any business listed in County Ordinance 20.1.
Parker, who is facing five opponents this year as he seeks a third four-year term in county office, said he’s always considered small business owners an important part of his constituency.
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“It has always been a passion of mine to help small business owners in our community,” he said. “That is why I have worked so hard during my time as a commissioner to help our business owners.”
If the majority of the County Commission decides to go along with Parker’s idea to hold a public hearing, a vote to repeal the county’s occupational license tax will be as simple as repealing the existing ordinance and establishing a new one.
The county’s Committee of the Whole meeting gets underway at 8:30 a.m., Monday at the Tiger Point Community Center in Gulf Breeze.