“I was very surprised because the first I heard about it,” said Karen Blackwell, a veteran and owner of Bean’s Coffee, “I haven't even seen a letter yet for mine. It might be in my, I've been traveling so it might be in my coffee shop mailbox.”
Blackwell heard about the increase in business license fees through a Facebook post from a Clearfield convenience store owner who posted the letter he received from the city, noting a nearly $5,000 hike up from his current charges.“$695 is a huge hit to a little business like mine,” she said.“This is something that we’ve recognized needed to be done for a long time. And we’ve held off on it,” said Allen.
Allen said the decision to increase fees was made with taxpayers and city services for everyone in mind. “The reality is for all of these years, the residents, the taxpayers of Clearfield have been subsidizing that, because the business license fees for all these years have been artificially low,” said Allen, “As a whole, we’ll be as a city, as an organization better able to provide the services that the city requires.”“I do understand needing to fund the city, but there are a lot of taxes that we already pay as a business, things like that," said Blackwell.
Don't businesses have to pay property tax? So that tax, plus sales taxes they bring in, plus the jobs to the community isn't enough. Businesses have to pay to play to get their mob protection slip from the government as well? What a racket!