Warren S. Hudak Jr. owns Hudak & Company, a small business accounting services firm in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. In addition to running his business, Hudak has been standing up for small businesses at the state and federal level on issues like tax reform and healthcare reform. In 2016, he testified before the U.S. Senate to advocate for the Small Business Healthcare Relief Act.
“The main message of our Affordable Care Act testimony was to stop playing politics with the manner and cost of our healthcare,” Hudak says. “Broken promises, punitive premium increases, and restrictive network and plan choices have broken the spirit of many business owners who find it difficult to compete for talent.”
Hudak is a true advocate for his fellow small business owners. We chatted with him about his efforts to create better policies for small business.
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Q: What policy issues are you most concerned about?
A: Because of a serious overreaction to the 2008 banking crisis, mountains of banking regulations and compliance requirements have caused small businesses difficulty in accessing capital. So many of our clients have been forced to use alternative funding methods to meet their cash needs.
Sweeping initiatives like the Affordable Care Act added 21 new taxes that added thousands of pages of rules, explanations, and regulations that often confounded experts.
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Q: Why did you join NFIB, and how has membership helped you as a business owner?
A: I joined NFIB because so many of my clients were getting strangled in miles of red tape and mountains of taxes.
Small business owners are experts at what they do, but they usually have little interest or time to understand the complexities of policy initiatives. They often realize the impact after they are on the receiving end of misguided policy.
At first, I thought legislators didn’t care about the little guy, but I quickly found out that most legislators just didn’t have any understanding of the unique challenges small business owners face. Legislators often don’t understand the complexities and unintended consequences of policy initiatives until NFIB engages on the issue. It’s surprising to see how effectively small business owners can shape policy by just being given the opportunity to share their day-to-day challenges with a legislator. I figured I am qualified to do that!
Lastly, we need more small business owners to run for public office. NFIB is the best way to get involved.
