Gaspee Business Network: Tell Lawmakers to Help RI’s Economy

In these trying times, with over 80,000 Rhode Islanders laid-off, our state lawmakers must play their part in mitigating the destructive impact of the COVID-19 crisis. As my lawmaker, I am asking you to introduce "emergency" legislation that will help employers hire back workers as quickly as possible and to assist families … once our state starts its recovery. Legislative ideas include:

-Temporarily Suspending the Internet Sales Tax, so people have financial incentives to shop and eat from home

-Temporarily reduce the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour so that more workers can be hired back, more quickly

-Temporarily increase the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to aid low income families

-Temporarily extending the deadlines for businesses to pay sales taxes

-Temporary suspension, if not repeal, of the corporate minimum tax

- Repeal the ban on flavored vaping products, so that this industry can hire back its workers

- Eliminate sales and hotel taxes on people who offer short-term rentals like AirBNB, to encourage summer tourism

- Remove insurance laws that discourage the sale of short-term health insurance plans, for people who have lost their health insurance when they lost their job