Ringgold City Council discusses city business at Ringgold City Hall. From left are Councilman Larry Black, Councilwoman Sarah Clark, Mayor Nick Millwood, Vice Mayor Terry Crawford and Councilman Jake Haynes.Ringgold City Council members are considering replacing the current occupational tax, which is based on the number of employees a business has, with a tax based on each business’s annual revenue.
Called a gross receipt tax, the new tax’s amount would adjust based on the business’s output – the actual revenues as reflected in its receipts. The proposed ordinance change would also take doctors, lawyers and other practitioners’ business models into consideration with a specified “practitioner fee” of a flat $400, since often they do not operate as a standard storefront business would, Councilman Larry Black explained during the council’s Nov. 14 meeting.
“Instead of [requiring] a flat fee for all of our business regardless of the [profitability] of the business, we look to the process going forward of businesses paying a different amount based on their gross receipts,” he said. ” But I do think it needs further study and a report back to see how this would affect our businesses.”
Mayor Nick Millwood said the council will not make any decisions until numbers associated with the proposed change were available and the public had an opportunity to comment.
Currently, he said, the city’s occupational tax charges between $100 and $350, based on the number of employees. The proposed gross receipt tax structure would allow for minimal costs for small businesses, while potentially increasing city funding through increased taxation of larger businesses.
However, he reiterated, “It may not be worth it, we just don’t know yet but it’s a common tax structure in surrounding municipalities.”
Also at the meeting, the council voted unanimously to approve a proposed change to the city’s lodging tax, essentially updating language to match state regulations.
“This is just to bring it up to some modern standards for some stuff the state has in their [tax regulation wording],” Vice Mayor Terry Crawford explained of the reasoning behind the changes. “This just puts us on the same wavelength.”
The next Ringgold City Council meeting will take place Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. – following the cancellation of the Nov. 28 meeting – with the standing work session beforehand at 6 p.m.
For more information, visit cityofringgold.com or call 706-935-3061.