The city’s Advertising and Promotion Commission is advocating for a streamlined process for collecting taxes from businesses. On its face, it’s not a bad idea.
The A&P collects 2 cents on the dollar in the way of a so-called hamburger tax, meaning prepared food and drinks. Then it collects another 3 cents on the dollar from hotels and inns and such.
The streamlining would mean that any of the above businesses would have to get a permit from the A&P Commission, with the reason for the move being to make sure that all restaurants, food trucks and inns are correctly collecting and remitting the appropriate taxes.
There were a couple of concerns voiced when the topic was discussed last week. Lanette Frazier, a member of the Pine Bluff City Council, said she worried about getting the word out on a new requirement. Well, that is always a hurdle, but over time, the word would get out, especially if the permit was attached to a necessary business license.
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To that point, Sheri Storie, A&P Commission executive director, said businesses would receive plenty of notification through information packets and that the commission would work with the city collector’s office to push out the information.
Another question was raised about the enforcement part of the streamlined approach, that being that at the drastic edges, there was the possibility of throwing the scofflaws in jail.
Said Julius Lever: “Incarceration is a bad thing and the threat of incarceration makes people not want to do business in your community.”
Perhaps, but mostly such measures would seem to be unnecessary. Doing business in the city requires a permit. Businesses that fall short of what is required can lose their permit to do business. The same should hold true for a business owner who is playing fast and loose with the requirements to pay their A&P taxes.
Assistant City Attorney Joe Childers was on hand to say that the penalties are intended as a deterrent and that actual incarceration would only occur in cases of extreme non-compliance.
The term “extreme non-compliance” still sounds vague and describes more of a judgment call than a precise condition. We sympathize with the A&P folks in trying to collect what’s theirs so they can, if they have any money left after keeping the Pine Bluff Convention Center afloat, actually advertise and promote Pine Bluff.
But let’s hope this new approach, particularly the hammer part of it, is spelled out and that the city will, indeed, never or hardly ever have to resort to the throw the bum in jail option. No one wants Pine Bluff to be known as a debtors’ prison.