Covid-19 Tax Credit Bill To Provide Financial Relief From Compliance Costs
Calaveras County, CA – Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil (D-Jackson) has introduced SB 375 to provide California employers with financial relief from the cost of complying with the new COVID-19 workplace safety standards.
The bill would offer an annual credit against state payroll taxes to reimburse employers for expenses such as testing, masks, ventilation systems, and other pandemic-related compliance costs. “As California has some of the strictest COVID-19 workplace standards in the country, the state government should bear the costs, not employers who are still recovering from the 2020 shutdown,” said Alvarado-Gil. SB 375 is supported by the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) and is aimed at offering relief to the 61,000 California businesses that have permanently closed and the 2.5 million Californians who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic. “The average wine industry employer will take two to three years to fully recover from the global pandemic and the new COVID-19 regulation will significantly increase the cost of doing business,” said Michael Miiller, CAWG’s Director of Government Relations.
SB 375 provides an annual tax credit capped at $100 per employee for small employers and $50 per employee for large employers. “The COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Regulations make small businesses in rural communities, like Calaveras County, liable for a community-spread virus, which is nonsensical,” concluded Alvarado-Gil. Senator Alvarado-Gil represents the 4th Senate District, including the counties of Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Inyo, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne.
