Hello, Tabor Neighbors! Each month, I talk about Tabor 100 and how our organization is moving forward in partnering with various entities, making our way back into our exclusively inperson meeting environment and working to keep our member businesses moving forward. It does my heart good to see the connections that are made and the success realized by many of our members.

It is not enough. Too many or our businesses and much of our community is suffering as a result of institutional racism and misguided public policy, the two sometimes working together effectively to ensure we are perpetually suffering.

During the last legislative session, I witnessed what I hope can become the framework for new and innovative public policy and using the tax money WE pay to actually benefit our businesses. SB 5744 and HB 1988 gives entities building data centers in the state a 50% tax credit for bringing on minority and women-owned firms. While a 100% credit was given for the use of Project Labor and Community Workforce Agreements, I want to focus on the fact that our community was “earmarked” 50%.

The state’s use of tax incentives to bring minority businesses onto private projects is something we have discussed at Tabor for years, mostly in relation to the high-rises we see being constructed in the city of Seattle (very little, if any, minority business participation). To see the state provide a 50% tax credit for minority and women-owned firm participation on data center construction is notable. I ask “’why not a 100% tax credit?” If government wants to do something to move our businesses forward, it would provide a minority and or women-owned business tax credit for building private infrastructure. Yes, it is OUR money too.

The 100% tax credit idea would be a good use of public funds. Just like in the current federal disadvantaged business program, there would be a huge incentive at the state level, to nurture and grow our businesses, regardless of their particular field. Excavation and dump truck companies, sign-makers, consultants, drywallers, concrete firms and even those who do accounting or insurance, could benefit hugely from a private entity that knows it can save on its state taxes by bringing them on.

While I recognize that there may be some “push back” including from some who we call our “friends” (the institutional racism does not go away), we need bold thinking and creative approaches to bolstering our business communities, which are the best hope for Black and Brown people in general. Study after study has shown that we tend to hire our own in our businesses, to a much greater degree than caucasian-owned firms. Let’s press our elected officials to use “our” tax money to incentivize the hiring of both OUR businesses and workers!