No Gain, More Pain for Small Businesses in the Democrats’ Inflation Package

By SBE Council at 8 August, 2022, 4:19 pm

NEWS

For Immediate Release

Washington, D.C. – The following statement can be attributed to Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) president & CEO Karen Kerrigan on Senate passage of the “Inflation Reduction Act” on a partisan, Democrat-only basis:

“No serious individual believes this tax and spending package will lower inflation. Even some Senate Democrats who voted for the bill admit to that. Various provisions in the bill will harm the ability of businesses – small and large alike – to navigate inflationary pressures, the fast-shrinking economy, and to help our supply chains function more normally. Businesses and our private sector need capital in order to do all of this, but the Democrats’ inflation package will take a lot of money out of the economy and away from productive businesses, which means businesses will invest less, innovate less, and cut costs – including their workforce.

“Again, the bill does nothing – nothing – to ease inflation, which is the top concern of entrepreneurs and American families alike.

“The inflation package includes harmful tax increases that will have damaging financial consequences for many small businesses, as suppliers to larger businesses, as energy consumers, and as their customers spend less as a result of the downstream impact of various tax increases on the weakened economy. The bill also extends the limitation for ‘pass-through’ businesses, of which there are 4.7 million, to claim losses in excess of a specified threshold for an additional two years.

“Moreover, super-sizing the IRS to audit more taxpayers means small businesses have a target on their back. Lengthy and time-consuming audits are financially and emotionally taxing, and the message this bill sends to small business taxpayers is that they should be fearful about risk-taking and their chances of being audited.

“Placing price controls on drugs will vastly harm the biopharmaceutical-innovative ecosystem, which is dominated by small to mid-size businesses that count on policy consistency to drive investment and risk-taking. Consumers will suffer from fewer drug and treatment breakthroughs, which means America’s leadership in this critical arena will suffer.

“Small businesses and entrepreneurs succeed with pro-growth policies that enable investment and risk-taking. This is not legislation that will help our businesses navigate through inflationary pressures, supply chain headaches, the great labor mismatch and an economy in recession. As we have been telling the Biden Administration and Congress all along, small business America needs policies that provide relief and support, not ones that raise costs and instill fear. SBE Council is urging all members of the U.S. House to oppose the Senate-passed inflation package.”

Related Resources:

SBE Council Letter to U.S. Senate Opposing the “Inflation Reduction Act.”

CONTACT:

Karen Kerrigan, kkerrigan@sbecouncil.org

SBE Council is nonpartisan advocacy, research and education organization dedicated to protecting small business and promoting entrepreneurship. For 28 years, SBE Council has worked on and advanced a range of private sector and public policy initiatives to strengthen the ecosystem for strong startup activity and small business growth. Visit www.sbecouncil.org for additional information. Twitter: @SBECouncil

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