Hartford Business Journal

18 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JULY 14, 2025 surcharge imposed on some compa- nies puts the state "in the upper end of corporate taxes in the country." Worse, he said, it caps most busi- ness tax credits at 50.01% of the current year tax. While it recently expanded the research and develop- ment tax credit for bioscience compa- nies to 90%, most companies still can't use 100% of their tax credits. Nord said CBIA has talked for years about the state's 0.26% capital base tax as "one that we've hoped to elim- inate." Only 16 states have a tax on capital, he said, "and that has a chilling effect on companies, especially small companies and biotech people that have accumulated capital, but aren't making profits yet." Chris Davis, CBIA's vice president for public policy, said a productive first step for the state would be to restore the pass-through entity tax credit to its original level of 93.01%. It currently is capped at 87.5% of the total tax paid. "This would return over $60 million to over 120,000 small businesses across the state, providing much-needed capital for hiring new employees, investing in new equipment or expanding their business," he said. Davis said CBIA also is concerned about the results of the recently completed legislative session. While the state has improved its finances over the past seven years, the new two-year budget uses fiscal guardrail workarounds and more than $357 million in business tax hikes to increase state spending by $2.6 billion over the next two years. In addition to the corporate surcharge, the budget raises additional revenue from corporations through changes to the unitary tax and net operating loss carry forwards. "There's a lot of concern within the business community that the stability and predictability and, quite frankly, sustainability that we've had over the last several years is now in question," he said. Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding Jr. (R-Brookfield) agrees. "It's a very slippery slope the legislature is going down," Harding said. "When we pass tax structures that increase taxes on businesses and corporations, we're not making us much better." House Speaker Matthew Ritter (D-Hartford), though, says the tax increase in the biennial budget affects only some large corporations, and agreed that when he speaks with business leaders they mostly talk about predictability. "I feel we are in a good position," Ritter said. "It's a drastic change from 10 years ago. … Ask Moody's and S&P. Our credit rating has gone up." He added, "We're never going to be as cheap as the southwest part of the country. But in terms of looking at our peer states in this region, we very much punch above our weight." Competitiveness Continued from page 17 SE RIES | CT'S ECONOMIC COMPE TITIVENES S After major acquisition, Hartford-based company now largest parking operator in North America LAZ Parking CEO and co-founder Alan Lazowski in his company's Hartford headquarters in the Gold Building, at 1 Financial Plaza. HBJ Photo | Steve Laschever Diego, California. Christine Banning, president and CEO of the National Parking Associ- ation, confirmed LAZ's new status as the largest parking oper- ator in North America, following the company's INDIGO acquisition. "It clearly shows the parking industry is growing right now as the economy grows," Banning said. The parking industry suffered a major decline with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but had fully recovered as of the end of 2023, Banning said. Since then, it has been growing at a "significant pace" due to increased leisure and business travel, as well as a return to office work in central business districts, she said. Hartford is home Lazowski said most of his compa- ny's growth has come organically, but acquisitions have been an important tool as well. It has allowed LAZ to leverage its strengths to improve the acquired businesses. He expects further acquisitions and consolidation in the industry as companies with resources invest in technology and absorb smaller operators. LAZ Parking has branched into business intelligence, e-commerce, micro-warehousing, last-mile logistics and more. The company expects to launch AI-powered parking-monitoring services this fall. Customers will be able to park without buying a ticket or logging in, with their arrival and depar- ture monitored by AI systems. No matter how big the company gets, LAZ Parking will remain rooted in Hartford, Lazowski said. It is headquartered in downtown's "Gold Building" office tower and employs over 800 people in the city. "We are going to continue to grow organically and through acquisi- tions," Lazowski said. "The good news is, Hartford will always be our headquarters." Christine Banning BY THE NUMBERS LAZ Parking's employee counts 800-900 Number of employees in the city of Hartford. 1,073 Number of employees in Connecticut. 20,000+ Number of total employees. Source: LAZ Parking By Michael Puffer mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com H artford-based LAZ Parking is now North America's largest parking operator after acquiring a majority stake in a large Canadian parking outfit. LAZ announced earlier this month it acquired a 60% interest in INDIGO Park Canada Inc., adding 1,700 employees and more than 1,200 parking areas to its portfolio. The company says it now employs more than 20,000 people, and controls over 2 million parking spaces in 5,300 locations in the U.S. and Canada. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal gives LAZ more parking locations than the next-largest oper- ator — Santa Monica, California-based Metropolis Parking, which grew to more than 4,000 locations and over 20,000 employees last year. "I'm just really so proud of the LAZ team members," said CEO and co-founder Alan Lazowski during a recent interview. "You can't do this alone. You need great people around you to do this." INDIGO Group, the international parent company of INDIGO Park Canada, owned a 50% stake in LAZ Parking from 2007 until 2021, when LAZ bought out its interest. The companies have continued to collab- orate on research and development using LAZ personnel and facilities in Hartford. "This is like reuniting a family because INDIGO used to own 50% of LAZ in the U.S.," Lazowski said. INDIGO Park Canada CEO John Laires and other top management will remain in place following the acquisi- tion, Lazowski said. Rapid growth LAZ Parking has come a long way since three friends — Lazowski, Jeffrey N. Karp and Michael Harth — launched a valet service for a Hartford restaurant in 1981. They were joined by Michael J. Kuziak, now the compa- ny's chief operating officer, within a year. Just over the past four years, LAZ Parking has grown from 3,500 loca- tions generating about $2 billion in annual managed revenue, to 5,300 locations in 44 states and Canada generating about $3 billion in annual managed revenue, Lazowski said. Over that time, the company has grown from 14,580 employees to more than 20,000. The INDIGO deal marked the third major acquisition for LAZ Parking in as many months. In May, LAZ announced its acqui- sition of a majority interest in Freight Ninja, an Illinois-based provider of truck, trailer and fleet parking manage- ment services. In April, it acquired a majority interest in FleetLogix, a fleet management and staffing services provider headquartered in San

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