Small business owners praise GOP tax bill
The Republican-controlled Congress voted to pass the Republican tax bill Wednesday, giving President Donald Trump his first major legislative victory.
‘Guy Chemical’ founder Guy Berkebile and ‘Joseph’s Lite Cookies’ President Joseph Semprevivo described how the GOP tax bill will help benefit both of their perspective businesses.
The $1.5 trillion tax bill is the biggest overhaul of the U.S. tax system in more than 30 years and will lower the federal top marginal tax rate to 37% from 39.6%.
“We’ve been paying some of the highest taxes in the world for way too long. My company, I’m paying at the federal 39.6% rate when you add in the state and local taxes on top of that, I’m paying nearly 50% for every dollar I make back to the government,” Berkebile told FOX Business’ Liz MacDonald on “Risk & Reward.”
Some Democrats like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) believe that corporations will be the ones that profit from the tax bill at the expense of the middle class.
Pelosi tweeted, “Democrats are speaking out after Republicans passed their con-job #GOPTaxScam & raised taxes on 86 million middle class families.”
The ‘Guy Chemical’ founder described the difficulties he faced paying such high taxes as a small business owner.
“I did not draw a salary from my company for five years when I started it because the survival of my business in paying my employees was always more important than how much I was making at the time. I mortgaged my house seven times over the years to help pay for financing of my business,” Berkebile said. “My money goes back into my business and it goes back into salaries, but also bonuses to my employees.”
The GOP bill also allows full expensing of short-lived capital investments, which the ‘Joseph Lite Cookies’ president plans to utilize in order to expand operations.
“Our focus is to expand our company and the number one way we are going to do that is by adding equipment like with the immediate expensing and the accelerate depreciation. We’ll be able to buy a Rotary Dye. We’ll be able to start producing special cookies and increasing our sales [and] increasing payroll to our team members,” Semprevivo said.