As eHELPS readers are aware, MHA has been part of a coalition to reform the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act “(BIPA”) for years. The BIPA was one of the first state laws to address business’s collection of biometric data. The BIPA largely went unnoticed until 2015, when a series of class action lawsuits were brought against businesses alleging unlawful collection and use of the biometric data of Illinois residents. These cases sparked a flood of similar customer-based class actions, as well as employee-based class actions claiming BIPA violations in connection with the deployment by employers of time-management biometric tools. This led to a plethora of egregious decisions and settlements against businesses.

In the aftermath of one such case, Cothron v. White Castle System, Inc., members of the General Assembly reached out to business interests for suggestions and language regarding BIPA.

The business coalition suggested the following changes:

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Main Street businesses across Wisconsin are chalking up a significant victory with the recent enactment of 2023 Wisconsin Act 12, a local government revenue reform bill which also included language that finally repeals Wisconsin’s archaic business personal property tax starting with the January 2024 assessment. Repealing the personal property tax has been a top legislative priority for the Midwest Hardware Association (MHA) and is a major legislative victory overall for the Main Street business community after years of hard fought lobbying from a broad coalition of business groups.

The personal property tax is one of Wisconsin’s oldest taxes dating back to around the time of statehood in the mid-1800s when there wasn't an income or sales tax to fund the government. Government funding came primarily from property taxes — both from actual land and buildings, but also from personal property like jewelry, furniture, and livestock. The personal property tax is assessed on all tangible personal property owned by businesses, including inventory, machinery, equipment, and fixtures. The tax is assessed on the value of the property and the rate varies depending on the type of property and the municipality. However, over the course of many decades the state legislature has granted more exemptions from the tax than items that are subjected to the tax generating far less revenue than the cost and burden to administer it. The increased number of exemptions also created much confusion, complexity and placed an unfair compliance burden, particularly on smaller sized businesses. The reporting requirements and recordkeeping of the tax every year has become a major thorn in the side for countless small businesses and retailers, but also for local units of government who must administer and collect the tax. Eliminating the personal property tax will simplify compliance for businesses throughout the state, especially smaller sized operations. Businesses will no longer have to file annual personal property tax reports and they will no longer have to worry about the assessment of their property.



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Good news for MHA members in Wisconsin! The Joint Finance Committee approved changes to current law as it relates to the retailer’s discount able to be claimed. The rate moves from .50% to .75% and the cap is increased from $1,000 to $8,000. There are still some hurdles for these changes to go into effect... we will know more next week. Stay tuned!



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MHA is excited to let you know that we now offer Swipeclock, the leading small business Time & Labor solution.

Automated Time & Labor integrated with payroll makes managing work hours, schedules, and PTO easy and hassle-free. Capture punches in real time and make timecards immediately available for review and approval. We also offer integrated hiring, onboarding and HR management.

What does this mean for you?

You can throw away the paper and spreadsheets and provide employee self-service for timesheets, schedules and vacation time. Our hiring solution allows you to easily track applicants in a centralized system and post to multiple job boards from the platform.

Plus, it’s a reliable way to reduce your labor costs. Overtime alerts, schedule enforcement and missed punch notifications help keep payroll costs in check.

Please see the attached link:

https://partner.swipeclock.com/engage/demo-workforcehub-time-plus/?sales_rep=VktHbEI4ays4ZWNlRmFlamovZDA5Zz09

If you would like to set up a meeting to learn more, please contact me at tinam@midwesthardweare.com. 

Thank you for being a valued customer and trusting us to handle your payroll. We know you have many choices when it comes to service providers, and we truly appreciate your business.