Small businesses support Senate tax bill
Let the record show that small-business owners support the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The National Federation of Independent Business, which is the leading small-business organization in Maine and had strong concerns about the initial legislation, now urges Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King to support the measure.
Many people may not realize that three-quarters of U.S. small businesses are organized as “pass-throughs.” Between state and federal taxes, a lot of small businesses end up sending nearly half of their income to the government under the current tax code.
Maine ranks fifth in the nation for the share of employment in pass-through businesses. The Senate bill would provide relief by creating a 17.4-percent deduction on pass-through income up to $500,000.
That deduction would result in a significant reduction in taxes for small businesses regardless of their tax bracket. And it would be available to all small businesses, including service providers such as car mechanics and carpenters.
This matters because our members say taxes are too high and the federal tax code is too complicated. Small businesses waste too much time and money trying to comply with confusing and ever-changing tax regulations.
Over the next several weeks, the federation will be working to ensure that tax reform becomes law. That way, small businesses can continue to lead America’s next great era of prosperity.
David Clough
Maine director
National Federation of Independent Business
Portland
Culture of harassment unacceptable
A major cultural swing is taking place in our homeland because of the courage of those who stand and say “me too.” This movement began by exposing sexual harassment, but has quickly snowballed into the collective mind to include abuses of power of all kinds. Like a cancer, every man and woman knows someone who has been subjected in some way to deplorable actions, leaving them powerless, bound to secret and without a voice. Until now.
The momentum of this movement calls out the guilty and sends a strong message that this behavior is not acceptable and will no longer be tolerated by our society. We are seeing those in high-profile positions falling from grace because of their actions, the very same actions that deeply impact everyday people like you and me right in our community.
These dirty little secrets (hidden in the wide open) are not OK or acceptable as “the way things have always been.” This long-standing tradition does not serve us as equals or justify immoral behaviors.
We have been provided the window of opportunity to demolish this secret culture of deplorable by supporting the momentum to create a healthy culture of accountability, respect, transparency and equality. Honor those who have suffered in silence and depend on the power of fate to find their peace. Everyone deserves the opportunity to be the best they can be in a healthy culture of equality, and the freedom it invites to create their own dance.
Jeannie Merchant
Mount Desert
No tweak can fix Republican tax bill
The GOP says it’ll tweak the tax bill to secure Sen. Susan Collins’ vote. Let me be clear, this tax policy cannot be fixed by tweaking.
The restoration of the state and local tax deductions will not appease those of us who oppose this tax bill here in Maine.
Other sections offset the slight benefits maybe gained by some Mainers. The Senate will not allow time to analyze this bill by experts. The core of the bill remains unchanged.
This bill reduces the taxes from the wealthiest taxpayers and corporations, and does so absent any showing of tax induced stress on them. A large panel of economists have concluded that the bill will hurt the economy as well as individual lower- and middle-income taxpayers.
The GOP seeks Collins’ vote nonetheless, hoping that she values passage of any bill more than the wellbeing of her constituents. Even higher-income taxpayers have said cuts to their tax burden is unwarranted. Not one corporation will commit that this bill will cause them to return overseas jobs to Maine.
The bill will destroy rural health care — an actual driver of good-paying rural jobs — cause cuts to Medicare and other programs important to Maine. It taxes laboring workers more than those fortunate enough to receive passive income.
Collins can choose short-term partisan benefit of passing the bill, or she can vote no and stand firm for the Mainers she represents. Her choice.
Susie Crimmins
Portland