Rectify it

Re “Now’s not the time to increase taxes on businesses” (Other Views, Nov. 8): It’s disheartening to see small businesses being used as a weapon to criticize key tax provisions in the Build Back Better plan that will actually help level the playing field for small businesses, not harm them. As we await further changes to the $1.75 trillion framework, it’s important to remember that this legislation is not a fight between small and big businesses. The measures in this plan will enact tax reforms that will ensure wealthy corporations pay their fair share and also help boost small business recovery.

The Build Back Better plan is poised to impose a 15% minimum tax on the corporate profits that large businesses (making more than $1 billion a year) report to shareholders. What’s more, the proposed tax would disincentivize shifting profits and jobs overseas through a global minimum tax. The current tax proposals in the Build Back Better plan would raise significant revenue to fund much-needed programs necessary for small businesses to rebuild while either benefiting or having no impact on the vast majority of Main Street business owners.

The pandemic has laid bare the inequities in our tax system, and unfortunately, made the rich richer and the poor poorer — just as countless small businesses shut their doors for good. It’s time to implement a fairer tax system that will rectify corporate loopholes that primarily benefit big businesses and put small businesses at a disadvantage.

Awesta Sarkash, government affairs director, Small Business Majority, Reston