Small Business
Issue: Small businesses have been the backbone of the American economy for centuries. Any market-based system is driven by competition, but in today’s top heavy economy a few massive corporations have hoarded resources and stifled innovation. With rising rents and increasing competition from billion dollar corporations, small businesses across America have been unable to expand, and many have had to shut down.
Meanwhile, D.C. has spent the past four decades codifying corporate welfare, passing bills crafted by lobbyists and rubber stamped by both conservative and liberal politicians alike to keep their constituencies complacent. The result is a creeping oligarchy that has stunted the freedom of our most valuable resource, innovative entrepreneurs.
For too long, those with too much have gotten away with paying too little, at the cost of those who work the hardest. Last year, a study by the Government Accountability Office found that in 2012, almost 20% of profitable corporations with over $10 million in assets paid no federal income tax. President Trump has already signed an executive order directing his Treasury Secretary to roll back Obama era inversion regulations, and we cannot afford to continue allowing the uber wealthy to rig the game while small business owners suffer.
Proposal: It’s time to replace a corporate tax code written by lobbyists to maintain their clients’ monopolies with one written by the people, for the people. Our proposed corporate tax reform would ensure that small business owners have the flexibility they need to take risks and grow without the burden of complicated tax schemes and confusing red tape. Additionally, we are proposing decisive Congressional action to permanently enact many of the measures taken by President Obama’s Treasury department to end corporate inversions.
By cutting taxes for small businesses and holding large corporations accountable, we can revitalize local communities where empty storefronts now dominate once lively commercial corridors, and opportunities with meaningful upward mobility are few and far between. For every extra percent in taxes paid by the Wal-Marts, Amazons, and Facebooks of the economy, thousands of small businesses across the country could receive the relief they desperately need. If we’re going to survive in the economy they ruined, we need to take back our Congress and change the rules of the game to give small business owners a break when they most need it.
References:
http://www.gao.gov/assets/680/675844.pdf
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1120.pdf
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-taxes-corporate-transfer-overseas/