Small-business owners to Congress: Do your job and cut taxes

This fall, Congress should come together to secure powerful tax cuts for small businesses.

Wisely targeted for a broad-based immediate impact, across-the-board rate reductions for job creators will avoid the pitfalls of hard-to-pass comprehensive legislation or hard-to-measure results that are slow to take effect. Small-business taxes are a major pain point affecting millions of employers and employees.

{mosads}As the chief operating officer of a hotel management company in Kansas City, I see the impact of taxes and economic growth from both sides — from behind my own desk and from the standpoint of the employees and guests who make it possible for my business to survive and thrive.

My experience has taught me that small-business owners, employees, and customers all stand to gain from swift and effective tax cuts. And they all stand to struggle without the help of strong congressional leadership.

In my home state of Missouri, it’s hard to overstate the tremendously positive impact small-business tax cuts will have on hardworking families. Consider these eye-opening numbers. According to the Small Business Administration, over 99 percent of Missouri businesses are small businesses.

Most are businesses with under 100 employees. And altogether, Missouri’s small businesses account for nearly 50 percent of the state’s private-sector employees. Nationally, small businesses provide half of all existing jobs and two-thirds of new jobs.

By alleviating the tax burden on small-business owners, Congress can strengthen the backbone of the U.S. economy. We are dependent on small businesses to create jobs and spur investment in our communities.

If these job creators are able to keep more of their hard-earned money, they’ll be more likely to spend it on additional locations, higher wages, and more employees. Strangling them with taxes indirectly strangles the employees depending on job creators for financial security — and, by extension, their families.

Small businesses are crying out for tax relief as we speak. In a national poll of small-business owners conducted by the Job Creators Network, half of all respondents identified tax cuts as the proposed policy offering them the most help.

As small businesses do well, the U.S. economy overall will do well. Small-business owners don’t sit on their tax savings; they’ll reinvest their hard-earned money and put it into action by growing their business and creating new career opportunities for people. In the same poll, most respondents claimed they would reinvest their savings back into their businesses in the form of wage hikes, new hiring, and expansion.

This finding demonstrates that tax cuts would help workers through raises and new job opportunities, as well as the broader economy through business expansion. With wage and economic growth only recently picking up after the Great Recession, job creators are suggesting growth can be supercharged with tax cuts.

As we speak, President Trump and Congress are working together on a strong package of rate reductions, closed loopholes, and a simpler filing system. Fortunately, there is no pressure to enact overarching legislation that has a lower chance of passing. Building on the president’s small-business proposals, legislators can focus on helping America’s leading job creators first.

We know that cutting taxes for small businesses will help Main Street. In our uncertain political times, that’s a quick fix Americans can count on.

Mike Patel is Principal and COO at Marquee Hospitality, a business management consultant agency.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.