Now What? What Does A Trump Presidency Mean For The Small Business Owner
Now that the initial shock of Donald Trump’s very decisive electoral college win over Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has dissipated, the reality of his Presidency is now glaring the world in the face. Nationally, polls of both Democrat and Republican small business owners indicate that there are questions and flat out concern about the future of small business.
Prior to the election, hard-nosed positions were taken on many topics, all without hearing actual plans as to how things would be done. It was clear that the positions taken leading up to the election were more sensational rather than factual. The question now for many small business owners is, now what? Now that Donald Trump has been elected as the 46th President of the United States, what does this mean for the small business owner?
The concerns for many small business owners can be placed into four categories. These categories include healthcare, minimum wage, regulations, and taxes.
Healthcare
Without a doubt, many are looking for the Affordable Healthcare Act, also known as Obama Care to immediately be repealed, modified or replaced. For some, a Trump Presidency would simplify the current healthcare system by placing healthcare back into the hands of individual states. While this may simplify the system for some, there are others who are petrified because, under the ACA, they have been able to obtain coverage that would not have been available if the ACA was not in place.
Minimum Wage
The increase of minimum wage found itself in the winners’ circle in at least four states. This indicates a shift and paves the way for other states to follow suit. It is no secret that increases in earnings also lead to an increase in spending. While small business welcomes an increase in spending, they are not necessarily willing for that to come at the expense of their companies financial backs. Small business owners feel that higher minimum wages would hurt smaller companies. Still, there are others who feel that an increase in minimum wage would make them more competitive. Even while this debate within the small business community is still ongoing, as to what an increased minimum wage would mean, there is one thing that they do indeed agree on, and that is with the minimum wage increasing in four states, its a matter of time before locally they are faced with it.
Regulations
In the arena of small business, government regulations are viewed as being problematic. These problems have been labeled as disastrous by Donald Trump. His plan includes a complete overhaul of regulations that according to him are placing a damper on small business creation. This is welcome news to many small business owners who have to wade through mounds of red tape. The regulatory changes while generally are all positive in nature, would be most beneficial to those small businesses which are in highly regulated areas such as medicine and manufacturing.
Taxes
President Donal Trump has stated that he would change the existing tax code. His proposed changes would be in most noticeable in the area of percentage cuts. The Trump plan would reduce the overall business tax rate from 35% to 15%. It would also eliminate the corporate alternative minimum tax and would benefit both small, medium and large businesses. With a Republican President and a majority Republican Congress, these proposed changes are sure to be made law.
After hearing all the promises and electoral banter, it is safe to say that the majority of the small business community is cautiously optimistic and hopeful that the Trump Presidency adds to their business rather than take away from it.
- Greg Wilson
