NEW JERSEY DEMOCRATS FORM SMALL BUSINESS COUNCIL

[Trenton] — Today, New Jersey Democratic State Committee Chairman Currie announced the formation of a small business council to be chaired by state party Treasurer Kelly Stewart Maer. Maer also serves on the Democratic National Committee’s Small Business Council, and she will coordinate the state council’s activities with the national council’s chairman, Andrew Lachman of California.

Representing some 99 percent of businesses, small businesses employ nearly half of all private-sector workers in the United States and are responsible for creating the majority of new jobs. The newly formed council highlights the importance that New Jersey’s small businesses have to the state economy.

“Small businesses are the engine of economic growth, and I am pleased that the Garden State’s entrepreneurs, mom and pop shops, start-up organizations and others will now have an official caucus to engage with,” Chairman Currie said. “The fact is, small business interests are being intentionally overlooked by the Republican majority in Congress as it seeks to force through a terrible piece of legislation that hurts people on Main Street, who will find it more difficult to compete if this tax scam is hastily foisted upon the public.”

Maer echoed the Chairman’s concerns, noting that small business owners and their customers should be the priority in any real tax reform, not the big corporations that are already gaming our current system, and taking advantage of loopholes that allow some to pay little or no tax at all.

“I am excited about chairing a small business council in the Garden State, and I hope we can establish a platform from which to hear new and ideas and push back against truly bad ones,” she said. “The Republican tax scam encourages big businesses to move American jobs and profits offshore. It will result in deep cuts to programs small businesses rely on, like infrastructure investment, education, job training, and more. Many small businesses would not receive a dime.”

Pending congressional proposals will increase taxes on half of all American families, including two in three middle-income households, and enlarge the deficit by an appalling $1.4 trillion. Groups that would be harmed include home contractors, family farmers, technology services, academic researchers, artists, and others. Meanwhile, deep cuts to the mortgage interest deduction would disincentivize home-buying in New Jersey. By contrast, under the GOP tax scam, the Trump family could save $1.1 billion in estate taxes alone.

“The GOP’s tax scam encourages big businesses to do exactly what Donald Trump does in his own private businesses: manufacture products outside the United States and offshore American jobs,” said Lachman, who chairs the DNC Small Business Council. He touted the new New Jersey council as one example of how Democrats across the country are fighting back against Republicans’ dangerous and destructive policies, and pledged that Democrats will “fight tooth and nail” to defend small businesses.

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