Iowa Statesman,
I was happy to hear the joint statement on tax reform from the US Congress, The White House and others in Washington. It’s about time. Our current tax code is severely dated, complex and debunked. Our tax code has not been updated since Reagan was in office and 30 years has been way too long. We are abiding by a tax code that is riddled with loopholes and doesn’t fit in today’s economy. Most importantly, it hurts our small businesses in this country by putting them at a disadvantage. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, making up 99.7% of U.S. employer businesses. We need a federal government that follows through on their promises today and adopts a positive tax and regulatory environment in which small businesses can succeed with out burden of an outdated tax code.
The recent statement recognized that our nation elected the current administration to write tax policies that “encourage employers to invest, hire, and grow.” This is definitely not the aim of our current tax code. The US has the highest corporate income rate in the developed world at 35%, and small businesses can be forced to pay rates as high as 40%. And to add to the cost, these same small businesses often to spend their hard-earned resources to hire professional accountants in order to decipher the complexities of our tax code or even to just file their taxes. In many cases, they don’t have the funds that big businesses have to hire professionals for help. Additionally, these small business owners are already spending their own hard earned dollars to try to promote and advertise their businesses as best they can. We need to give America’s Main Street business owners their peace of mind so they can run and grow their businesses. We can only accomplish this by reforming our tax code.
The statement from Washington aligns with the tax blueprint outlined by the House GOP earlier this year. This blueprint would add 18,397 jobs in Iowa alone. Not to mention the $5,284 that would be added to household incomes in the state. Think of the benefits our local economy and economies across the nation would receive from all this.
Iowa businesses and taxpayers have waited long enough. It’s time for Congress and President Trump to provide relief for small business owners.
Tom Woody Iowa Tax Payer Des Moines, IA
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