From remarks by Grafton Willey IV, at the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce Business Show, October 22, 2009

We all know the bad news about the RI economy and we all do a great job in telling everyone how bad it is in RI. Last month Forbes in it annual rankings placed RI dead last in their ranking of the best states for business climate. We are at the bottom of most of the national surveys.

Recently the RI Senate created a special commission to explore what RI should do to help Small Business. This Commission is going to be meeting periodically over the next few months and hopefully come up with recommendations to improve the business climate in RI for Small Businesses. Remember 98% of RI businesses are Small Businesses.

We have with us today Grafton "Cap' Willey, IV. Everyone knows him as Cap. Cap is a Managing Director of the National CPA firm CBIZ Tofias, which has RI offices in Providence and Newport as well as regional offices in Cambridge and New Bedford. Cap has been a long time advocate for Small Businesses on a regional and national level leading the SBANE RI group and served as past Chair of the National Small Business Association in Washington. He also works closely with the Northern Chamber in their lobbying efforts in Providence and in Washington.

Cap, we all know how to complain about what is wrong in RI. What should we do to start making things right in RI?

Well John, we can start with a subject that is near and dear to my heart,

Tax Reform:

On almost every level RI has created a tax structure that is completely uncompetitive when compared both regionally and nationally. We are among the highest tax states for income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes and corporate taxes. I also consider licenses, fees and permit charges as another form of tax and we are the leaders in that area.