Congress Shouldn't Target Small Business

Date: September 09, 2019

The Corporate Transparency Act is Bad for Small Business

This opinion piece by State Director Jerrod Shouse below ran in the Sept. 8th edition of The Oklahoman. It explains how a bill lawmakers are considering at the nation’s Capitol would burden small business owners with paperwork and put their privacy at risk. Since that opinion piece appeared in the paper, a few things have happened in Washington, D.C. Here’s an update on where the Corporate Transparency Act is now and an explanation about similar legislation in the Senate. 

On October 22, the House passed the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), HR 2513. However, there is good news. It did not pass by an overwhelming majority, which is what the House was hoping for.

There are three similar bills in the Senate, the Corporate Transparency Act, ILLICIT Cash Act, and TITLE Act. Click here for an explanation on the differences between the three and how they would hurt your small business.

 

Point of View: Congress Shouldn’t Target Small Business

Small business owners in Oklahoma need to be aware. In fact, anyone who shops or is employed by a small business owner needs to know about a bill that on the surface, sounds like it would do good – but in reality, threatens the privacy and puts burdensome regulations on job creators and community supporters.

It’s called The Corporate Transparency Act and supporters would tell you it will help law enforcement catch criminals who start shell companies in the US to launder money to terrorist organizations. Sounds good, right?

Wrong. Small business owners with fewer than 20 employees would be forced to fill out extensive paperwork that includes the personal information of everyone with an ownership stake in the business. If small business owners mess that up in any way, they face thousands of dollars in fines and even up to three years in prison. That means 350,000 small business owners across Oklahoma could become criminals themselves.

Here’s the problem: small businesses aren’t like big corporations. In fact, they’re very different. Most of NFIB’s small business owners have 10 or fewer employees. They don’t have a team of lawyers to fill out stacks of government documents and federal regulations. At most small businesses, the person left with all that work is often the owner – the same person who opens up the shop in the morning, mops the floor, and signs the pay checks. Historically, that’s the reason most legislation has exempted small business from intrusive regulations. Not this bill. This bill puts a target on the back of small business owners.

The last time NFIB surveyed its members, they said burdensome federal paperwork was the 12th biggest problem they faced as employers. If this legislation passes, that number will skyrocket even higher, making already burdened small business owners even more stressed. It would prevent them from spending time growing their business or creating new jobs.

This kind of common-sense concerns are things that Congress should have heard before drafting legislation. Unfortunately, they didn’t talk to a single small business before rolling out The Corporate Transparency Act. The result is that it takes transparency way too far.

Oklahoma’s small businesses already face a multitude of red tape. Rather than blindly move forward with this bill, our Senators and Representatives should take a hard look at the details. Small businesses are asking Congress to stop this bad bill, now.

 

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