U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

04/08/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/08/2025 17:16

Ranking Member Markey: Tariffs, Cuts, and Tax Scams Will Turn Main Street into Pain Street

Ranking Member Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today released the following statement after attending a joint House Committee on Small Business and Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship hearing titled: "Prosperity on Main Street: Keeping Taxes Low for Small Businesses," where he highlighted the catastrophic impacts Trump's tariffs, coupled with the Republicans' tax policies, will have on small businesses and communities in Massachusetts and across the country.

"Trump's reckless tariffs are a roadmap to ruin for small businesses. Last week's so-called 'Liberation Day' should have been called 'Obliteration Day.' Trump's careless tariff policy is causing small business owners to face a dire choice: either raise prices and risk losing customers, or absorb cost increases and potentially lay off workers or close their doors entirely. As they obliterate small businesses and their 60 million employees, Republicans are focused on extending tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations, leaving hardworking Americans to pay the price.

"Trump's 2017 tax scam slowed business investment and only increased wages for high-earners and executives. Now, Republicans are looking to double down by extending ineffective policies that are more than $5 trillion in tax giveaways to the wealthy. They would rather prop up the wealthiest in our society at the expense of affordable health care, food assistance, and education for the most vulnerable in our society.

"Trump's terrible tariffs would have an 'absolutely devastating impact' on small businesses, according to the testimony of Ms. Anne Zimmerman, the founder and owner of Zimmerman & Co CPAs. And she's not the only one voicing these concerns; I am hearing from constituents in Massachusetts, who are saying they are having to scale back or cease operations altogether because of Trump's reckless tariffs. The Trump tariffs are not 'salvation' for small businesses, as SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said - it is devastation. We must end this trade war and make a tax code that works for working people and small businesses - not billionaires."

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