Gov. Gregoire’s proposal for B&O tax simplification.

Governor Gregoire has recently announced a proposal to streamline local B&O Tax administration. Currently, there are at least 39 Washington cities that impose and administer their own local B&O taxes which are in addition to the Washington State B&O tax.

The Governor's proposal would run all state and local business licensing and renewal through the state Business Licensing System which is operated by the Department of Revenue. Additionally, the Department of Revenue would take over the administration of local B&O tax collection from the 39 cities but each local authority will be able to continue setting its own rates.

The Governor believes that these simplification measures will reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses and thereby help those businesses create more jobs.

The Governor's proposal can be found here.

Update on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 8:40AM by Jess Monnette

Governor Gregoire's press conference can be found here.  She discusses her B&O Tax proposal starting at about the 3 minute mark.