Due to a new round of restrictions placed on businesses in response to the continued rise of COVID-19 cases the City of Washington is deferring payment of certain business taxes as a means of helping businesses within the city weather the potential loss of revenue. “We’re deferring the deadlines for payment of mercantile and business privilege taxes in the hope that our city businesses can use that extra time to gain back some of the potential loss in revenue because of these restrictions” said city Councilman Joe Manning the city’s finance director. “The state isn’t going to act and the federal government certainly isn’t going to act so we as the local taxing body need to do what we can to help businesses that are struggling right now” Manning said. For businesses in the city of Washington mercantile tax is due on January 31st and that date will be moved to March 31st, and business privilege which is due in April will be moved to July. Manning said that this may be just the first of a multi-pronged program to help businesses until the pandemic is over and added that he hopes these actions inspire surrounding municipalities to take similar actions. “We’re all in this together can’t be just a slogan” Manning said. “These businesses are our neighbors and the backbone of our communities we need to work together to help them survive”.