Lawmakers need to act fast to protect businesses

Beacon Hill took its own sweet time as a host of potential tax liabilities and unemployment insurance costs hung over the heads of businesses coping with the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Now lawmakers need to act fast.

With just days to go before a March 15 tax deadline, Democratic lawmakers on Monday reached agreement on a compromise bill that will change state law to protect a subset of businesses from tax liabilities stemming from forgivable PPP loans.

The change will bring Massachusetts law into conformity with the federal tax code and exclude PPP loans from gross income for small businesses organized as pass through entities.

Other provisions of the bill provide tax relief to unemployed workers earning below 200% of the poverty level, and waive penalties for missed tax payments for people collecting unemployment insurance in 2020.

Another provision, working in concert with federal legislation, extends paid leave for workers who catch coronavirus, need to quarantine or get a vaccine. Employers would be reimbursed for associated costs.

Those are good steps and are in line with public health goals driving the response to the pandemic.

Finally, the bill would freeze unemployment insurance rates for employers, which were set to increase by about 60% per employee, at long last addressing a need identified by Gov. Charlie Baker last year.

Just as the pandemic has left many in a fog with its long duration and enforced social distancing, so have businesses lacked clarity with where they stand with these substantial tax and insurance costs bearing down.

“We will act expeditiously to get this comprehensive bill to the governor’s desk,” said Senate President Karen Spilka, House Speaker Ron Mariano and Ways and Means Chairs Sen. Michael Rodrigues and Rep. Aaron Michlewitz in a joint statement Monday.

Indeed they must. Business owners deserve to know the road ahead.