Business owners Wednesday joined Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of the Job Creators Network, and Steve Moore, co-founder of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, to talk about how President Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office represents a “war on small business.”
Nicole Wolter, president and CEO of HM Manufacturing Company, and John Motta, Chairman of the Coalition of Franchisee Associations and owner of Dunkin Donuts stores in New Hampshire and Virginia, spoke out about Biden’s record so far when it comes to helping small businesses, which are responsible for two-thirds of new job creation in the United States.
Wolter praised the tax cuts put in place under President Donald Trump’s administration, which she said not only helped her company but the community where it is located.
“I spent $750,000 worth of capital equipment investment, which was huge, that created jobs with all of that I was able to provide bonuses and raises incentive programs,” Wolter said. “So if your efficiency was over 85 percent you got a gift card, you got things that really excited your team and things that we weren’t able to do in the past.”
Wolter said she was able to offer paid internships for individuals in the community and employees training opportunities that led to increased salaries.
When her company bought new equipment, Wolter said the local schools benefited from receiving the older equipment.
“I was even able to provide 100 percent paid health care for employees — that is absolutely unheard of,” Wolter said.
“Now when you’re talking about raising the corporate tax to just this astronomical number, it is only going to worse than for small business,” Wolter said. “I just don’t understand why we are constantly at war with small business, you know, they never go after the fortune 500 corporations.”
Wolter said she not only decreased her own salary but for months did not take a salary at all to ensure her employees got a paycheck.
Moore said on the call that one of the greatest struggles for small business is a shortage of workers as the country starts to open up because Biden’s policies of increased unemployment and coronavirus relief checks to Americans are resulting in worker shortages.
“Over the next three to four or five months, and this is a phenomenon that we’re already seeing that is reducing the ability of small businesses to reopen their doors after this terrible year of pandemic,” Moore said. “The massive increase in unemployment benefits and other government benefits, which are paying people substantially more money for not working.”
“This is welfare reform in reverse,” Moore said. “This is a huge problem right now for businesses. We estimate that there will be about 5 million fewer working Americans through October because of the disastrous $1.9 trillion spending bill.”
Everyone on the call said increases in corporate and capital gains taxes are detrimental to small businesses.
Ortiz called them “success taxes.”
“We’re actually calling it a success tax because I think that’s the way we should look at it,” Ortiz said. “I think frankly the Biden administration is counting on the wonkiness of that term. But this is what it is, it’s a success tax.
“We will continue calling it that and so people understand what it really is,” Ortiz said.
Follow Penny Starr on Twitter or send news tips to pstarr@breitbart.com