Small business owners in Washington state forced to shut down after tax increases

Redmond small business owner closes shop over new state tax package

The owner of Om Spark, a Redmond online marketing company, is shutting down his 13-year-old business, citing Washington state's new $9 billion tax package, which expands retail sales tax to online digital ads.

REDMOND, Wash. - FOX 13 is hearing from another small business owner who says he’s been forced to shut down over big state tax increases. 

Business owner Nikhil Singhal is calling it quits over the state's new $9 billion tax package passed earlier this year by lawmakers in Olympia.

"The math simply doesn’t add up for us to continue doing this business," Om Spark owner Nikhil Singhal said.

Singhal has operated Om Spark, an online marketing company based out of Redmond, for 13 years. His online company has tailored their services to small businesses to advertise and elevate their brand. Singhal says the latest increase in taxes is hitting him in several different new ways, including an increase in the business and occupation tax and an expansion of the retail sales tax that now captures online digital ads.

"It’s really hard, if you think about it, it’s a self-created crisis in my opinion by the government," Singhal said.

Singhal says he finds it incredulous over how quickly lawmakers passed the massive tax increase.

"People take more time to buy a car, the state actually took more time discussing the state bird than they spent time discussing a $9 billion state tax increase," Singhal said.

He says many small business owners do not feel heard, and that lawmakers need to research and hear from small business owners before making sweeping taxes or changes.

"What I want to tell them is talk to the people who will be impacted by this, let’s figure out a solution," Singhal said.

Singhal is the latest to share his frustration over the state’s business climate. Back in October, FOX 13 spoke with Josh Dirks, who shut down Project Bionic in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. Dirks was forced to lay off his staff at his social media digital ad agency after 16 years in business. 

'Seattle News Weekly S1E9': Controversial new taxes take effect in WA

On the ninth episode of the "Seattle News Weekly" podcast, FOX 13 Seattle anchor Hana Kim talks about a suite of controversial new taxes that took effect this month, pushed by the state's Democratic-majority Legislature. Joining Hana to discuss the effect of these recent taxes is Joshua Dirks, team lead of Seattle-based advertising company Project Bionic.

He says the latest tax increase was the last straw and he could not keep his business viable.

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