Thune: Republicans Fighting to Prevent Democrats’ Small Business Tax Hike

“[I]f we don’t extend and make permanent the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, at the end of this year, our small businesses are going to be facing a $600 billion tax hike. And that is what the Democrats here are going to be voting for if they choose not to work with us …”

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership:

Thune’s remarks below (as delivered):

“Well, good afternoon, everyone.

“I think, as everybody knows, this is Small Business Week, which is the week when we celebrate our nation’s small businesses, which do represent the backbone of our economy.

“If you look at the definition, 99 percent of the businesses in this country are considered to be small businesses.

“They are the folks that are out there investing every day and creating jobs and making our economy hum.

“And so as we think about small business week and what they need in order to keep doing the things that they do to create better-paying jobs, invest in our economy, grow their businesses, we think the tax code is a big part of that.

“In the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, there were clear provisions that were designed to ... provide incentives for our small businesses to invest and grow.

“And many of those are going to be expiring at the end of this year, and so we believe that we need to not only extend – but make permanent – those very provisions in the 2017 law.

“And I was involved in writing that bill, and there were a couple of key issues: We wanted to lower rates and we wanted to accelerate or create faster cost recovery for businesses so they would have that incentive to invest.

“And it worked, and we had remarkable results in our economy.

“So we think that making those provisions permanent will lead to even more growth in our economy.

“In fact, the National Federation of Independent Business has estimated that making the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent would lead to 1.2 million jobs created each year, and there’s some suggestion that could be significantly larger as time goes on.

“In the alternative, if we don’t extend and make permanent the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, at the end of this year, our small businesses are going to be facing a $600 billion tax hike.

“And that is what the Democrats here are going to be voting for if they choose not to work with us to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

“What I can tell you is Republicans are totally committed – Senate, House, and White House – to ensuring that we have conditions for our small businesses in this country that are favorable to economic growth, favorable to investment, favorable to creating better-paying jobs and ensuring that workers in this country have the best economy available for them and their families that leads to higher wages and better benefits.”