Told that her first tax cut proposal wasn't big enough, Snellville City Councilwoman Kelly Kautz is now considering a much more ambitious plan.
Kautz has floated the idea of eliminating the city's occupational tax, an aggressive follow-up to her failed measure to give small businesses a 20 percent break on the levy.
“Either go big or go home,” Kautz said. "This will help small businesses stay in business."
Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer has called the idea politically motivated, while other council members who voted against Kautz's tax break said they needed more information.
"Before I commit to anything like that, I want to have an analysis done by city staff as to what effect that would have on the" budget, Councilman Tom Witts said.
At most, the measure would have cost the city about $35,000.
But the proposal was defeated Monday in a 4-2 vote, with Witts leading much of the opposition. He emphasized that more than half of the eligible businesses would receive a tax break of $4.92.
"It does nothing for anybody," Witts said. "It's the perfect example of government not understanding the needs of small business."
Only Kautz and Councilman Mike Sabbagh supported the ordinance.
But Kautz quickly responded by suggesting a one-year moratorium on the occupational tax for eligible small businesses. Kautz said she will likely push the idea during upcoming budget talks, saying the city could take some of its savings from the previous year and pass it on to businesses.
"We can't afford to abolish the tax completely," she said. "But it looks like we could do it without it being a burden on our citizens."
City officials said Snellville collected $108,600 in occupational taxes in 2010 using Kautz's formula.
Oberholtzer remained skeptical about the proposal.
"Like I said, it's an election year," he said.
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