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Congress meets at Iowa State Fair: Everybody can support small businesses

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Congress meets at Iowa State Fair: Everybody can support small businesses

Let’s resolve to pass a tax code that supports small business growth while also reviewing and sunsetting any burdensome and costly regulations.

Eric Heininger
 |  Guest columnist

Every two years, the end of the Iowa State Fair signals the beginning of the sprint to the November general election. The Iowa State Fair played host to a lot of competitions, entertainment and, of course, innovative food concessionaires. It also hosted a field hearing by the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, which brought Congress to the Youth Inn to explore bipartisan policy solutions that could help spur growth in the Midwest.

A good place for the Committee to start would be for Democrats and Republicans to come together and listen to the needs of small-business owners.  Our challenges, like accessing affordable child care and dealing with rising costs, are shared by Americans. The resolutions to these issues will surely create the economic growth both parties are seeking.

A lack of access to affordable, reliable child care is causing workforce challenges for small businesses, including my own. In a recent survey of small-business owners by Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices, a majority report insufficient affordable child care programs in their communities.

This is worthy of attention because 58% said that they’re continuing to hire, but 80% said they’re finding it difficult to fill open positions. One-third said that their current employees have been forced to cut their work hours or forgo work entirely because of these child care challenges.

Affordable child care is a small business issue. Policymakers should unite behind legislation to increase the tax credit available to businesses who seek to locate or provide child care for their workers from $150,000 to $500,000 — a policy that received 70% support from small-business owners surveyed.

The cost of doing business keeps increasing, forcing small-business owners like me to make a choice: Raise prices to keep up with rising costs, or eat the increased cost and weaken my margins. Rising interest rates have significantly increased the cost of borrowing money, making securing a small-business loan or line of credit unattainable or unaffordable. A lack of working capital can mean halting expansion plans, hiring or reinvestment in a business.

While bringing down interest rates isn’t something Congress or the Ways and Means Committee can easily tackle, there are ways lawmakers can unite to help small businesses as we try to get through this period of inflation. In 2025, lawmakers will need to address tax policy. Let’s resolve to pass a tax code that supports small business growth while also reviewing and sunsetting any burdensome and costly regulations.

Both political parties agree that small businesses are the backbone of America’s economy. We create jobs, invest in our local communities and make our commercial corridors vibrant. In a time in which many Americans like me are hoping elected officials can work together to pass policy that will have a positive impact, a good place to start would be looking to the small-business owners who are trying to drive economic growth in their towns and cities. Reaching across the partisan divide to support Main Street is something everyone can endorse.

Eric Heininger is the owner and president of Eden+, a Des Moines-based fundraising consulting firm for nonprofit organizations. Contact: info@edenplus.org.

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