Guest column: Congress needs to act to save small business. Here’s how.

Washington, D.C. needs to wake up — now.

That’s my message to politicians on both sides of the aisle heading into the election. As a small business owner in Shreveport, I can’t believe that no one is talking about the coming destruction of Main Street. Next year, virtually every small business in the country — including mine —is going to face a devastating tax hike.

But instead of saving us, politicians are ignoring this crisis altogether. Both parties say they support small business. It’s time to prove it.

I say this as someone whose small business is on the line. Since 2015, my wife and I have run an embroidery-company-turned-general-store in downtown Shreveport. From the start, we were shocked at the tax burden that D.C. puts on Main Street. Thankfully, we got relief in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and we couldn’t have been more grateful.

The law has the biggest small-business tax cut in American history. Basically, we can now deduct 20% of our revenue every year. That makes it easier for us to compete with big businesses, which have plenty of tax breaks and a much lower corporate tax rate. While the playing field still isn’t level, the small business deduction gives Main Street a fighting chance against Wall Street.

Our small business is proof. After the tax cut went into effect, we had a lot more money on our hands. But instead of keeping it in our own pockets, we plowed it right back into the business. The savings let us move the business into a bigger space, buy new embroidery machines, and source more products from other local businesses. We also spent a lot more on advertising, giving us more customers and helping us keep the doors open.

In other words, the small business deduction helped us build up Shreveport. When we moved locations, we revitalized a 114-year-old building. When we bought new machines, we supported the manufacturer. As we partner with more local businesses, we keep jobs in the area. And when we get more customers, we get more of the revenue to keep growing and giving back. On that note, our tax cut has made it possible for us to donate some money to local schools and charities — something every small business wants to do.

But everything is about to get a whole lot harder. The small business deduction is set to expire in 2025. At that point, our taxes will skyrocket, even though big businesses will keep paying a much lower rate. We’re already investing less in the business in preparation for the worst. But we’d rather keep doing what we do best, which is helping our community grow and thrive.

There’s no good time for a small business tax hike, but now is especially bad. While we’ve owned our small business for just 9 years, we’ve been in retail for 30 years and we’ve never seen the economy struggle so much. If our taxes suddenly soar, we’ll have to raise prices, shrink our real-estate footprint and tighten our belt in every way we can. At some point, belt-tightening becomes strangulation. Small businesses will die if the Small Business Deduction isn’t saved.

Our nation’s leaders could prevent this crisis tomorrow. A bipartisan group of lawmakers has already introduced the Main Street Tax Certainty Act, which would make the small business deduction permanent. But Congress isn’t moving on the bill and neither presidential candidate is really talking about it.

That needs to change now. Small business is the backbone of America. All we want to do is keep building up our communities. But if Washington doesn’t wake up soon, our country and our communities will soon collapse.