With Tax Day around the corner, tax policy is front and center this week. So are claims about how changes to the tax code will affect small businesses. The Main Street Alliance released a pair of new fact sheets in its “straight talk” series separating truth from fiction when it comes to small business and taxes. One fact sheet focuses Continue reading
Small business owners see corporate tax loopholes and accounting gimmicks used to shift U.S. profits offshore to avoid taxes as serious problems, according to independent nationwide opinion polling released on February 6. Small business owners say big corporations and the wealthy don’t pay their fair share of taxes. They support increasing taxes on millionaire incomes, allowing high-end tax cuts to Continue reading
Helen Dally, whose parents own an auto repair shop in Oregon, spoke at a press conference on March 27 outside the Supreme Court, sharing how the Affordable Care Act is helping her get health coverage and helping her family’s business. Her parents’ auto shop is benefiting from lower premiums and a new tax credit thanks to the ACA, calling into Continue reading
This week, the Affordable Care Act – the new health care law – goes before the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s a good time to ask: “Is the new law making a dent? Is it helping fix small businesses’ rough ride with health care?” We talked to a crew that knows a thing or two about dents and fixing rides: auto mechanics. Continue reading
Main Street Alliance affiliates are fighting to make sure new state health insurance exchanges are designed to work in the best interest of small businesses, not insurance companies. As part of these efforts, our affiliate in Idaho launched this video highlighting how insurance interests dominate the committees making decisions about health policy in a classic “fox guarding the henhouse” scenario. Continue reading
On April 12, the Main Street Alliance joined U.S. PIRG, Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Business for Shared Prosperity and the American Sustainable Business Council at a Capitol Hill press conference releasing U.S. PIRG’s new report “Picking Up the Tab: Average Citizens and Small Businesses Pay the Price for Offshore Tax Havens.”
According to the report, tax haven abuse by U.S. corporations shortchanges the U.S. Treasury of revenues by an average of $2,116 for every small business in America (using Census numbers for businesses with fewer than 100 employees).
On March 22, Brian England, the owner of British American Auto Care in Columbia, Maryland, shared the story of how his business is benefiting from the Affordable Care Act at a press event with congressional leaders marking the two-year anniversary of the ACA. Brian offers health coverage for his employees, and saw his premiums go down 6 percent last year thanks to the ACA’s 80/20 value for premiums rule.
Main Street Alliance affiliates are fighting to make sure new state health insurance exchanges are designed to work in the best interest of small businesses, not insurance companies. As part of these efforts, our affiliate in Idaho launched this video highlighting how insurance interests dominate the committees making decisions about health policy in a classic “fox guarding the henhouse” scenario. Click below to watch the video.
Small business leaders in the Main Street Alliance network sent an open letter to U.S. Senators urging them to amend the Jump-start Our Business Start-ups Act that passed the House recently. In the letter, they wrote:
“Rolling back basic transparency rules, like SEC registration, won’t help small businesses. Instead, it will tilt the playing field toward unscrupulous actors who are looking to game the system. That sounds like recreating the same atmosphere that brought about the 2008 financial crisis. We urge you not to do that.”
Florida small business owners participating in a recent survey want large corporations to pay more taxes, believe the foreclosure situation is having a negative impact on their customer base, and support the creation of a new competitive marketplace for purchasing health insurance. These are among the key findings of the report Taking the Pulse of Florida Small Businesses, a report based on a face-to-face survey of small business owners released in Orlando on February 29 by the Community Business Association, Organize Now, and the Main Street Alliance. Click here to read the full report.
