Inland Empire business owners to receive sales tax proposal info

     Some business owners across the Inland Empire are no doubt up in arms about a proposed 1-percent sales tax across the state to help plug holes in California's $15 billion budget deficit.

     The Board of Equalization, the state's publicly-elected tax-collecting entity, said on Tuesday that more than 500,000 retailers will be receiving information about the possible tax hike.

     It also said retailers might have to file a supplemental sales-and-use tax return. And if the tax increase is passed by the legislature, several businesses will need to reprogram their cash registers and computers to adjust for the new tax rate.

     On the heels of the La Verne Chamber of Commerce's Valley Area Chamber Executives event on Monday -- which brought together small business owners from San Dimas, La Verne and the San Gabriel Valley -- the La Verne chamber's leader said retailers aren't handling the proposed tax jump very well.

     "It's a very difficult time to ask for sales tax increases," said the chamber's president and CEO, Brian McNerney. "(Businesses) are upset. A lot of them have to cut their profits and margins to be competitive."

     For more information about reporting sales tax, visit: http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/onepercent.htm

     --matthew.wrye@inlandnewspapers.com