Group Says Tax Reform Hasn't Helped Small Business Owners

Businesses for Responsible Tax Reform, a nationwide coalition of small business leaders opposed to the tax law, released videos of three business leaders airing their frustration with the law that bypasses the needs of small business owners in favor of giving large corporations and the wealthy enormous tax cuts.

The videos, released on Facebook and Twitter seek to educate constituents in congressional districts across the country and highlight small business concerns about the law, including:

It doesn’t provide small business owners with the ability to hire or reward hard working employees with raises (in a poll, 69 percent said they would not hire due to the law and 59 percent said they would not give raises due to the new law and a survey by ZipBooks found that the tax law had no impact on hiring plans for 88% of small businesses)
It creates a tax code that is more complex and costlier to comply with
It adds $1.9 trillion to the debt
Corporations are using the savings to buy back stocks and enrich CEOs who are compensated with stock packages, rather than invest in growth

The ads target and seek to educate the constituents of Republican members of Congress in California-25 (Steve Knight, R-Palmdale), Michigan-6 (Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph), Iowa-1 (Rod Blum, R-Dubuque), Ohio-1 (Steve Chabot, R-Cincinnati), Florida-16 (Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota), and New Jersey 3 (Tom MacArthur, R-Toms River).

“As the midterm elections draw nearer, these videos will remind voters that many of our elected officials voice strong support for small business on the campaign trail but line the pockets of large corporations and the wealthy when they get to Washington,” said Businesses for Responsible Tax Reform Co-Chair and CPA Anne Zimmerman, who is featured in one of the ads. “This tax law is the perfect example of that dynamic. When it came time to vote, the GOP gave away the farm to corporations while doing little to help the country’s job creators, small businesses. We won’t forget that and it’s time to hold them accountable.”

One ad features Lynn Meyers, president of United Courier, Inc., a delivery company based in Cincinnati.

Another ad features Frank Knapp, Jr., who in addition to serving as Businesses for Responsible Tax Reform co-chair, is the president and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, a 5,000+ member advocacy organization that has taken a leadership role in making South Carolina more small business friendly.

The final ad features Zimmerman, Businesses for Responsible Tax Reform co-chair and founder and owner of Zimmerman & Co CPAs Inc., a public accounting firm with offices in Cincinnati and Cleveland providing services to small businesses.

Small Business