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The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce hopes the Legislature will reduce business taxes and regulations and provide long-term transportation funding, priorities local business officials said are needed to ensure a quality economy.

In a visit to the Tribune Monday, Minnesota Chamber of Commerce Communications Director Jim Pumarlo said the Chamber hopes to build on a successful 2017 legislative session that included helping ease the state business climate.

Pumarlo said the recently signed federal tax reform “is almost a once-in-a-generation way to reform Minnesota’s tax system.”

The chamber hopes the state uses additional revenue from tax reform to reduce corporate and individual income tax rates and the statewide property tax levy, as well as provide relief for business owners who report business income on personal income tax returns.

Pumarlo said the state should conform its estate tax to the federal threshold, protect the research and development tax credit and protect against automatic tax inflators.

In requesting tax cuts, Pumarlo said the state’s individual tax rate is the fourth highest in the country, while the corporate rate is third highest, affecting large and small businesses.

He said a proper balance must be met between maintaining a high standard of living and ensuring taxes are not hurting the economy, noting the lowest tax rate in Minnesota of 5.3 percent is higher than the top tax rate in 23 other states.

Pumarlo said of 35,500 C Corp companies — operations that pay their own taxes to the Internal Revenue Service —  77 percent have gross receipts of less than $1 million, adding that bringing personal income and corporate tax relief can benefit individuals and businesses. Increasing taxes affects employee wages and benefits and shareholder rates of return of the best Vanguard funds UK has available, he said.

Minnesota Freezer Warehouse CEO Charles Newell said he believes the company has unsuccessfully bid on projects because Iowa’s close proximity and its lower tax rates.

Regarding workplace regulations, the chamber hopes to minimize them “so businesses spend less time complying with laws and have more time innovating and creating jobs.” The group said doing so would “preserve flexibility among private-sector employers and employees,” and “ensure consistent statewide laws by explicitly prohibiting local governments from enacting wage and benefit mandates.”

On transportation, the chamber supports fully dedicating the sales tax on rental cars and auto parts to transportation, resolving long-term funding challenges involving the Twin Cities bus transit system and “establish permanent, long-term efficiency expectations at Minnesota Department of Transportation.”

Newell said ensuring quality transportation is the top priority for his company because of its reliance on trucking.

“They need to continue funding and continue to find ways to better use the money to keep our roads,” he said.

Minnesota Freezer Warehouse supplies temperature-controlled supply chain warehouse services.

Newell said beyond its role in business, roads are needed for community members to get to work and handle other tasks.

“Roads are an integral part of what we do in the state of Minnesota,” he said.

His father, Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce interim Executive Director Tom Newell, said ensuring quality transportation is a “safety” and “economic” issue.