Small-Business Owner Touts Benefits of Tax Reform

Published September 12, 2018

The tax reform package passed by congressional Republicans and signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017 is promoting business investment in capital and workers, a small business owner told Republican members of Congress who visited his company.

TCJA, signed into law by President Donald Trump on December 22, 2017, reduced most individual income tax rates, permanently cut the corporate income tax from 35 percent to 21 percent, ended the practice of double-taxing American businesses’ profits earned in other countries, and cut taxes by an estimated $1.5 trillion.

According to Beloit (WI) Daily News reporter Hillary Gavan, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R–WI) and state Reps. Amy Loudenbeck (R–Clinton) and Ken Skowronski (R–Franklin) and state Sen. Stephen Nass (R–Whitewater) talked with local community members on August 24 about the tax reform at Brian’s Electric, a small business owned by Brian Jacobs.

Sharing the Benefits

Jacobs told Budget & Tax News he has passed the benefits of TCJA along to his employees,

“I gave out, when you add it all up, about $150 an hour worth of wage increases,” Jacobs said. “Depending on how they have their taxes taken out of their checks, the lowest was around $14 a week in net take home pay, all the way up to $65 in net take home pay.”

Tax Emigration

Barry Keating, a professor of economics and business analytics at the University of Notre Dame and a policy advisor for The Heartland Institute, which publishes Budget & Tax News, says taxes are an important factor in business owners’ day-to-day decisions.

“I often visit this firm which is located [in Chicago],” Keating said. “We were meeting with [the company’s] representatives two weeks ago to discuss some internal matters. As part of the conversation, the principal of the company mentioned to me that the company was moving its headquarters to Dallas. I was taken aback because the company started in Chicago many years ago and had been successful there ever since inception. I asked why the move was taking place and was told, ‘Taxes!'”

‘Get Out of the Way’

Jacobs says the most effective policy for lawmakers at every level of government is to give job-creators like him freedom of decision-making.

“Any time the government just gets out of the way, I just think that only helps,” Jacobs said.