Senate Rush to Pass Tax Bill Leaves Small Businesses Behind

It’s incredibly disappointing that the U.S. Senate today passed hastily drafted legislation that blows a $1.5 trillion hole in the deficit while doing almost nothing to help small businesses.  

The tax bill explodes the deficit in order to give 55 percent of the pass-through reduction benefit to the top 2.6 percent of firms, meaning mom-and-pop shops would gain very little. Indeed, the financial benefits to a pass-through entity making $500,000 are 20 times the benefits to a business making $75,000. What’s more, this legislation slashes corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 21 percent even though only five percent of small businesses pay corporate taxes.

Although some lawmakers claim they are helping entrepreneurs with their tax plan, they did not actually listen to the voices of small employers who say they support closing loopholes that strongly favor large multinational corporations. In fact, Small Business Majority’s recent scientific opinion polling found seven in 10 small business owners believe their business is harmed when big corporations use loopholes to avoid taxes, and 85 percent feel the tax code unfairly benefits large corporations over small businesses, and that corporations and wealthy Americans should be required to pay their fair share of taxes.

Congress blew a once-in-a-generation chance to craft tax reform that could have made life easier for America’s small businesses. Instead, lawmakers were far more concerned with rewarding their wealthiest donors. This tax bill is terrible policy, and small businesses will pay the price.