Florida small businesses are profiting from extending Trump’s tax cuts

Small business owners in Florida and across the country need one thing from lawmakers in Washington.

Thankfully, Congress is already pushing for legislation to extend and strengthen tax cuts that will help small businesses thrive. Last month, the GOP House passed the bill, extending the tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year. Now, the US Senate must do its job by passing the law and sending it to the president to sign the law. as soon as possible.

Business owners across the state, including many members of Florida’s Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, are growing concern as several key elements of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Employment Act expire at the end of the year. They are worried about employment. They are worried about inflation. But they are most concerned that lawmakers aren’t moving fast enough to deal with the looming fiscal cliff that many of them could face if Congress didn’t extend the major tax cuts.

The Tax Cuts and Employment Act provided much needed tax cuts and economic opportunities for Florida entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. From the Landmark Act’s 20% deduction for small and medium-sized businesses to the full cost of new equipment, the Act was important to help businesses develop a growing environment that allowed them to expand, hire new workers and strengthen their local economy.

However, as tax cuts and employment law provisions expired at the end of the year, they were already phased out, allowing small businesses across the country to quickly pull out their rugs. Losing access to important tax cuts and deductions that have worked well to provide stability can increase business costs, lower profits, and many local businesses can reduce their employment or expansion plans.

So the Senate must work quickly to extend, permanently extend and make some of the law’s most important provisions, including small business deductions. This deduction allows eligible small business owners to deduct 20% of their business’s income, provide more flexibility and resources, reinvest in business growth, make improvements, and hire new employees.

Recovering the immediate costs of new equipment, a key provision in the already repealed 2017 tax law, should also be a top priority for Washington lawmakers. Allowing business owners to instantly deduct all costs of new equipment is especially important for businesses working in Florida’s manufacturing, agriculture, or other sectors that require regular investment in machinery and equipment.

Florida’s Hispanic Chamber of Commerce represents more than 604,000 Hispanic-owned businesses statewide, which contributes more than $90 billion a year. These hardworking entrepreneurs and business owners are creating jobs, strengthening the local economy, and building generational wealth.

But if they don’t clearly understand what looks like a year from now, they can’t continue doing it. In that respect, the uncertainty surrounding federal tax policy is not merely an inconvenience, but a real threat to businesses across the state.

Florida has over 3 million small businesses employing nearly 40% of the state’s workforce, and Hispanic-owned entrepreneurs and small business owners are one of the fastest growing segments of our economy. They need policies that promote their success, not creating new barriers.

In this case, this means extending tax cuts and regulations in 2017 that will help small businesses retain what they have acquired here and across the country, reinvest their businesses and provide better wages and benefits to their employees. Ensuring these provisions expire will be a devastating blow to small businesses and Florida communities.

At the same time, it is important for lawmakers to raise corporate tax rates to help law cuts and expand reforms. Most c-butlers are small businesses, and the 2017 tax law encouraged more small businesses to restructure themselves as c-commerce. Raising the corporate tax rate would raise taxes for tens of millions of small and medium-sized businesses across the country.

To be completely clear, this is not about politics. It is about the backbone of the American economy: a practical, pro-promoting policy that strengthens and supports small and medium-sized businesses. Florida lawmakers need to work together to pass laws that extend the Tax Cuts and Employment Act and provide much-needed tax certainty for small businesses. The future of our business, our community, our workforce and the Florida economy as a whole depends on it.

Julio A. Fuentes is president and CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Florida.