Idaho Member Tells Congress How Small Business Deduction Improves Employees’ Lives

June 14, 2023

Idaho Member Tells Congress How Small Business Deduction Improves Employees’ Lives

No one tells the small-business story better than a small-business owner. Even uninterested congressional representatives and state legislators will listen more intently to a small-business owner from a Main Street back home than they will to almost any other testifier who comes before them. A perfect example of this phenomenon happened June 7 before a joint meeting of the Senate Finance Committee and Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee when Stephanie Camarillo, owner of Molly Maid of Boise and the Treasure Valley, told members of the two committees what is a stake should Congress fail to make permanent the 20% Small Business Deduction, which is set to expire at the end of 2025. “Many of our 42 employees are single mothers, some from immigrant families. Most have never attended college or trade school. It’s easy to think that working for a cleaning company is a dead-end job. There is a lot of dirty work, but my small business has had a unique opportunity to impact the lives of our workforce and their families in ways that can address underlying issues and create generational change. It’s what makes mine and other small businesses like it such a vital part of a thriving community. We have learned that one of the most powerful ways to grow our company and retain the very best talent is to invest in our people. “In 2018, the Small Business Deduction (Section 199A) allowed us to make a meaningful investment in an employee named Jasmine. Jasmine is a single mom who felt trapped and unable to advance in her life. She started working for us as a housecleaner about 6 years ago. She cleaned during the day and at night she worked to finish her GED. Because of the tax savings through the Small Business Deduction (Section 199A), we were able to give Jasmine the raise and promotion she had earned and now she is on our management team. She has continued to spread her wings and is bound to be promoted again. Tax relief saves jobs and elevates working families.” Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo and Indiana Sen. Todd Young led the roundtable, which discussed Research & Development, Section 179 expensing, and the 20% Small Business Deduction, Section 199A. Making the Small Business Deduction permanent is NFIB’s No. 1 congressional priority. More about the deduction can be read here. The testimony of other small-business owners can be read here. “It was really an amazing experience, and I’m so thankful to NFIB for the opportunity. I got to see firsthand how the whole team works tirelessly to support small business,” said Camarillo. In return, NFIB thanked Stephanie Camarillo for bringing a compelling, real-life story on a vitally important issue to Washington, D.C. “Stephanie Camarillo is a great small-business champion,” said Suzanne Budge, NFIB’s Idaho state director. “Whenever we’ve needed her to testify in the State Legislature, she shows up and speaks with authority and makes comprehensible to lawmakers the most complicated of issues. Every state would be blessed to have a small-business asset like Stephanie. She and her husband have been active in NFIB for years, and, as a result, every small-business owner in the state has benefited from their involvement.”

Photo collage, upper left-hand corner: Stephanie Camarillo and Sen. Mike Crapo. Center and upper right-hand corner, Camarillo testifying before a joint meeting of the U.S. Senate Senate Finance and Small Business & Entrepreneurship committee. Photos courtesy of the U.S. Senate Photo Studio