Jobs In Minnesota – Brian Stalboerger

Running to represent the citizens of south Maplewood and Woodbury

No government project or program can exist without private sector businesses and jobs supporting it. MN state government doesn’t tax itself.

Minnesota has the 2nd highest corporate tax rate at 9.8% while some states have zero corporate income tax. Worse, it is a flat tax that hits small businesses the same as Fortune 500 companies. Due to the unfriendly business climate in Minnesota, whenever large corporations do want to invest here, they often can negotiate tax breaks and carveouts for themselves. But our homegrown small businesses don’t get a break. The way Minnesota treats business has the effect of both driving away larger businesses and making it difficult for small businesses to get started.

New Shared-Profit Business Charter

A new form of business structure should be created whereby one could obtain a charter as a shared-profit corporation. This new type of corporation would be free of state taxes in exchange for dedicating a significant share of the annual profits to employee bonuses. Every Minnesota based employee, from an hourly front-line worker to the top salaried employee, would get the same shared-profit bonus. In a good year, both the president and the hourly worker right out of school could get the same $20,000 bonus, as an example. This would be on top of any existing compensation and would be dependent on the company registering a profit for the year.

Advantages:

May grow into a powerful societal tool against income inequality
Keeps money in our communities instead of just going to shareholders who live all over the world.
Could be used in any sized company. A business could start small and keep this structure no matter how large it grew.
Good for start-ups who may be able to attract a worker with a lower base salary because they know they will be guaranteed a portion of the upside with no limit to how large the bonuses can become.
State will still collect a portion of the tax it gave up because it will collect a portion of the bonuses in regular income tax of the employees.
State will benefit because employees and communities will be boosted, removing them from the pool of people that need state aid or welfare programs.
Can revitalize Minnesota as a start-up business state.
Company can choose to be private or public because whatever portion of profits is not required by law to go to shared profit bonuses will still be available to be paid as dividends to shareholders. This will allow the company to raise capital needed for growth.
If we see the hoped for benefit in Minnesota, this idea could be expanded to the federal corporate income tax. This could be a revolutionary tool to lift the working and middle class.

Small Business Consideration

In talking with small business owners, they feel that past legislatures have done all they can to demoralize them. There was no balance between trying to improve things for workers and having any clue of how difficult it is to run a small or medium sized business. Many have given up and moved out of the state, or scaled back to stay under certain thresholds. One thing I will work on is to fix some of the most unworkable aspects of the Family Medical Leave Act.

Large corporate lobbyists are at the state capitol every day making sure their clients’ interests are heard. Labor unions and organizations for workers are rightly there advocating for workers. But small and medium sized business owners’ voices get lost in the shuffle. Small businesses create most new jobs in America and employ up to half of all workers. Strengthening small and medium businesses keeps money in our communities and in Minnesota.