PHOENIX, Ariz., Oct. 8, 2014—Calling his eight years in the Legislature “the high-water mark for pro-small-business policy advances,” the nation’s largest and leading small-business association today endorsed Andy Tobin for Congress over incumbent Ann Kirkpatrick.
“Andy Tobin’s four-terms in the Arizona House of Representatives represented this generation’s high-water mark for pro-small business policy advances,” said Farrell Quinlan, Arizona state director for the National Federation of Independent Business. “He justifiably deserves a fair amount of credit for those victories, because for most of those years, he was in the House majority leadership, including three years as the House Speaker. Historic cuts to personal and corporate income tax rates, trimming of the commercial and industrial property tax burden, doubling of the exemption on equipment and machinery taxes, simplification of sales tax administration, capital gains tax reduction and faster accelerated depreciation are only the top pro-free market tax policies that became law under Andy Tobin’s tenure in leadership. Regulatory reform, employment law improvements and modest advances in curbing lawsuit abuse were also hallmarks of his record. And all this occurred during one of the deepest and most persistent economic recessions in Arizona history.”
During Tobin’s eight years in the Arizona House, he earned a 96 percent voting record with NFIB, siding with Main Street job creators on 43 of 45 issues. The endorsement of Tobin (1st District) was made by NFIB’s SAFE (Save America’s Free Enterprise) Trust, the association’s political action committee. NFIB has 350,000 dues-paying members across the nation, including 7,000 in Arizona.
“For every session of Congress, we make it vividly clear what bills will be helpful or harmful to the nation’s small businesses,” said Lisa Goeas, NFIB’s vice president for political and grassroots, “and every representative and senator knows we are keeping a scorecard. Congresswoman Kirkpatrick earned only a 30 percent voting record on 10 issues vital to Main Street in the 113th Congress. That is no way to treat the people who employ more working Americans than big business, big labor or big government ever will. The engine of our economy will run much smoother with Andy Tobin in Congress.”
Brief, single-pages of bulleted information on the power of the small-business vote, what a small business is and the distinctions it has from a big business can be found here.
“Small businesses significantly impact Arizona’s economy,” reports the Office of Advocacy at the U.S. Small Business Administration. “They represent 97.1 percent of all employers and employ 44.8 percent of the private-sector labor force. Small businesses are crucial to the fiscal condition of the state and numbered 495,227 in 2010. Most of Arizona’s small businesses have fewer than 20 employees.”
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For more than 70 years, the National Federation of Independent Business has been the Voice of Small Business, taking the message from Main Street to the halls of Congress and all 50 state legislatures. NFIB annually surveys its members on state and federal issues vital to their survival as America’s economic engine and biggest creator of jobs. NFIB’s educational mission is to remind policymakers that small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses; they have very different challenges and priorities.
National Federation of Independent Business/Arizona
1702 East Highland Ave. Suite 403
Phoenix, AZ 85016-4630
602-263-7690
