Small businesses still reeling from impacts caused by the pandemic may have some relief with the proposed California budget for 2022-2023.
The plan proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom includes waiving fees and providing hundreds of millions of dollars in grants and tax breaks for small businesses.
While businesses across the country and state have unfortunately had to close their doors for good, some like the Dumpling House in midtown Sacramento have managed to get by with the help of family members.
Owner Linda Liu said the restaurant is being run with family members who at the moment have no choice but to help because they need income from the Dumpling House to get by. While surviving the last two years hasn’t been too bad with family on staff, it sometimes still feels like a daily struggle.
“The minimum wage went up. The food costs are going up and we can’t raise prices too much because we can’t benefit,” Liu said.
Some business owners in Sacramento hope that Newsom’s budget plan is helpful in more than one way.
“I’m sure that it’s going to be helpful to some that need it and can’t get enough staff when we need the extra help,” said Carolyn Salmon from Relles Florist.
Salmon said maintaining business and retaining most of their employees hasn’t been the issue for the flower shop. Instead, it’s been trying to hire new ones.
Jot Condie with the California Restaurant Association expressed approval that the budget proposal also allows federal restaurant relief funds to be tax-deductible since the assistance was specifically for the most vulnerable.
“These are funds that were appropriated to restaurants that met a test suggesting that they were basically at-risk of going out of business, so those funds were a huge relief lifeline to the restaurant industry,” Condie said.
The plan also includes $3 billion to go toward paying the debt for unemployment insurance funds through the next two years, which would help employers across different industries.
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