Small businesses in Pennsylvania are getting some relief when it comes to tax elimination because of the new state budget.
It takes the stress off new business owners in Cumberland County.. and who inherit a mom and pop shop.
People have been bringing their laundry to Dale Kaplan’s Careful Cleaners here in Camp Hill for the past 35 years.
Kaplan says the state’s new fiscal plan will help keep his business doors open when he’s not around anymore.
He’s feeling relief with a the tax cleared off the board.
Before the Governor signed off on the budget Sunday night, Kaplan wasn’t sure his daughter would be able to handle a loss due to a state required inheritance tax.
He says the state legislature finally “gets it”.
“You want to see job creation you want to see people be able to expand their business not have to pay out a tax to the state government,” says Dale Kaplan.
That reason is exactly why Representative Stephen Bloom (R) sponsored the bill in the first place.
“I saw how expensive and difficult it was to try to plan to keep that business going so this for me was kind of a labor of love I really care about these small businesses,” says Bloom.
Kaplan’s daughter, Alana has been helping her father since before she could walk.
She says she can’t imagine working anywhere else.
“I think that I’d end up having to sell the business just to make ends meet and make it work,” says Alana Kaplan.
With this tax elimination, these mom and pop shops can add new positions they won’t have to cut later.
“It’s a cycle that builds itself and I’m excited to be apart of it,” says Bloom.
Had state legislators not nixed the 4.5% inheritance tax, some of Dale Kaplan’s 19 employee’s could’ve eventually had their jobs at stake.
Now Kaplan says luckily that’s not the case anymore.
The tax cut applies to mom and pop shops with less than 5 million dollars in assets.
Bloom says small businesses create about 65% of jobs here in Pennsylvania.