No doubt you’ve noticed that the divide between big and small business seems to be widening, and that you and your fellow small business owners are not experiencing economic recovery the way that Wall Street is.
And if you think that part of the reason is because government increasingly caters to bigger businesses, mistakenly believing that they are the key to a robust American economy—well, unfortunately, you’re right.
At NFIB, one of our top priorities is to show government officials that they are flat-out wrong to ignore the importance and the power of the small business sector. We’re also repeatedly reminding them that the issues that impact you affect big business very differently. For example: Publicly held companies don’t flinch at complex taxes or even at many new regulations. They have huge staffs of accountants and lawyers to sort all of that out (and to find the loopholes). At the end of the day, their effective tax rates are often lower than yours, and their cost of compliance with regulations, per employee, is dramatically lower.
Likewise, the new healthcare law isn’t likely to make big business sweat nearly as much as you are right now. Because the largest businesses are self-insured—paying for their employees’ healthcare expenses out of company profits—they aren’t subjected to many of the Obamacare rules and taxes on the insurance plans that you, your families and employees use.
Some big businesses, in fact, are looking like big winners under the new law. Big insurance is guaranteed more customers, and big pharmaceutical companies will see higher profits. Even the employer mandate delay that was announced over the summer was a nod to the needs and cries of big business, not small.
In this issue of MyBusiness, we examine this “great divide” between big and small businesses in the political arena. We’ve also supplied you with a special insert on the healthcare law that will help you begin to navigate it, as much as we wish you didn’t have to.
As you read this, rest assured that NFIB will be fighting to show the difference between big and small businesses when it comes to national tax reform, regulatory reform, Obamacare and a host of other issues at the state and federal levels.
Collectively, you are big. And we’re proud to have your back.
