In the Colorado Senate, it’s impossible to miss the overwhelming significance of hardworking small businesses — and the way they’re overtaxed, thanks to onerous federal tax rates. It’s time to cut these rates for good.
Fortunately, as Congress is back for its last legislative session of the year, lawmakers have a golden opportunity to make good on the Trump administration’s goal of swift, significant relief for small-business taxpayers across the country.
More than 95 percent of businesses are small ones. But today, small businesses are calling out for relief from tax burdens that shouldn’t be saddling them. Thanks to their legal status as pass-through entities, most small businesses pay high individual rates. That’s why, in a survey conducted by the National Small Business Administration, more than 80 percent of owners said their priority was securing higher deductions and lower tax rates.
Small businesses won’t stuff these savings under their mattresses. Especially right now, they’re itching to reinvest their money into the things that make them so vital to the U.S. economy — more equipment, larger facilities, higher wages and new jobs. Most respondents in a new Job Creators Network poll said they would use tax cuts on the high individual rates their businesses pay to add employees, hike paychecks and build their infrastructure. Half of them ranked tax cuts at the very top of the list of policies that would help most.
These are no special-interest concerns. Even amid today’s noisy political divisions, the American people are sending a clear signal to Congress to pass tax relief that speaks directly to small-business needs and goals. In a survey conducted by the American Action Network, a majority supported a major overhaul of today’s burdensome taxes. More than three-fourths said cuts would boost at least one of American jobs, growth and finances.
Further data have shown that we can’t afford to miss this year’s opportunity for relief. Some small businesses across the country have started to lower their expectations on hiring, with about 5 percent cooling to the idea this quarter, according to the latest update to the Small Business Index. The tax cuts on the table right now provide a powerful incentive to add staff instead. After all, no small business wants to shrink.
The White House’s current proposals are responsive to Americans’ calls for tax help. Dropping the small business rate to 15 percent and doubling standard deductions would provide real, prompt help to those we count on to keep our economy humming and close the year strong. The annual fortunes of many small businesses are made or broken during the holiday season. If Congress doesn’t follow through on tax relief legislation, it’ll be a much harder winter for the country than it needs to be.
Americans and small businesses are speaking loud and clear on their own, but legislators in Washington can take it from a lawmaker in Colorado: Axe taxes now.
