On Trump’s Big Night, Here’s What He Said About Major Small Business Issues

Date: July 22, 2016

Simplifying the tax code, rolling back regulations, and reducing the cost of energy—all key small business issues—made an appearance.

It’s official.

Donald J. Trump is his party’s nominee for president, and he used the occasion to give some attention to three issues that impact small business owners.

In his speech accepting his party’s nomination, Trump called for reforms to the nation’s tax laws, regulations, and energy rules.

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“America is one of the highest-taxed nations in the world,” Trump told Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on July 21. “Reducing taxes will cause new companies and new jobs to come roaring back into our country.”

The speech, which clocked in at 1 hour and 15 minutes, touched on several severe problems faced by small business owners, as chronicled in NFIB’s quadrennial report, Small Business Problems & Priorities, including the No. 3 pressing issue in 2012, “the cost of energy”; the No. 5 issue, “unreasonable government regulations”; and the No. 7 issue, “tax complexity.” (NFIB will release the ninth edition of the report prior to this year’s election.)

Trump told the hall that he called for “the largest tax reduction of any candidate who has declared for the presidential race this year—Democrat or Republican.”

“Small business owners list taxes as one of their top concerns,” said NFIB President and CEO Juanita Duggan. “They want reform that features fewer brackets and lower rates. Mr. Trump’s recognition that the current tax system is a tremendous burden on small business is an encouraging sign.”

Last year, Trump laid out a tax plan that includes fewer income brackets and lower rates, a position consistent with NFIB’s position on tax reform.

“Then we are going to deal with the issue of regulation, one of the greatest job-killers of them all,” Trump continued. “Excessive regulation is costing our country as much as $2 trillion a year, and we will end it.”

Pivoting to the issue of energy and its impact on the nation’s economic health, Trump said his administration would eliminate caps on the production of domestic energy. “This will produce more than $20 trillion in job creating economic activity over the next four decades,” Trump said.

Next, the nation’s political epicenter will shift to Philadelphia, where Democrats will hold their nominating convention next week from July 25 to 28.

*Note: This news coverage does not equate to an endorsement of any candidate by NFIB.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore

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