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Talking Business: A Conversation With... Lura Lunkenheimer and Sam Gramet on taking advantage of federal tax incentives.
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The January Talking Business event featured Lura Lunkenheimer and Sam Gramet, both from Peaceful Schools, and Kurt Roulston, from the City of Syracuse Economic Development Office.
Both the state and federal governments provide tax incentives to businesses. Lunkenheimer and Gramet are taking advantage of an Empire Zone, which provides tax incentives to their business. While Empire Zones have been maligned, they have been important to many businesses in the Syracuse area. Peaceful Schools moved first into an Empire Zone on the South Side, when they rented space at the South Side Innovation Center. Once they understood the benefits, they looked to purchase a building for their business that was also in an Empire Zone. Their search took them to the Northside where they have rehabilitated a building for their use.
Although the Empire Zones provide tax incentives from New York State, Roulston said that the Empowerment Zones provide federal tax incentives. Roulston explained the differences in the two programs and talked about the outreach the Economic Development Office is doing in order to make more businesses aware of these incentives. For example, he has been approaching employment agencies about the tax incentives. He said that once employment agencies get used to the tax incentives, then they will promote those incentives to the businesses with whom they work.
Even though these tax incentives can seem mysterious, Lunkenheimer, Gramet and Roulston demonstrated that understanding them is not difficult. Yes, you will likely need to get your accountant involved, but you do not need an accountant or attorney in order to understand what the benefits are and whether your business would qualify. In fact, given the benefits, it could be in every business’ best interest to understand these tax incentives and then decide whether or not to pursue using them.
For more information on the Empire and Empowerment Zones, watch the video from the January Talking Business event, and then contact the City of Syracuse Economic Development Office.
Event photography courtesy of Kelvin P. Ringold, Custom Photogenics
