NFIB official fights for small business
Kevin Shivers visits area to update Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce members on efforts
“We’re very pleased with the rolling back the regulation wave in Washington.” – Kevin Shivers, executive state director of the National Federation of Independent Business in Pennsylvania
KENNETT » Kevin Shivers remembers the exact time he realized Donald Trump could win the Presidential election.
He walked into a business in Tredyffrin and the owner showed him a bill increasing her health care premium.
“This means $21,000 to me,” the woman said holding up the invoice, adding in a whisper, “I’m voting for Trump.”
Such are the war stories of Shivers, Pennsylvania’s executive state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, or NFIB, an organization that lobbies government on behalf of business.
Shivers shared the organization’s views of the business climate with about 150 members of the Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce on Thursday at the Mendenhall Inn.
Shivers said Chester County is a strong area for NFIB membership, and he credited the late chairman and co-founder of The Tri-M Group LLC, W. Thomas Musser — “Tom Musser is probably responsible for two-thirds of them” — he told the group of southern Chester County business people at the group’s annual fall luncheon.
Shivers said he has always been interested in politics and “NFIB gave me an opportunity” to lobby for business interests. Before joining the group, Shivers was deputy press secretary for Pennsylvania governors Tom Ridge and Mark Schweiker. He previously served as press secretary in the Pennsylvania Department of State and worked in the Penn-
sylvania House of Representatives. Shivers holds a bachelor’s degree from Allegheny College.
His first taste of political jousting after joining the organization was a zoning bill in which the NFIB wanted governments to notify neighboring businesses by mail when a zoning change was being voted
on. The group urged businesses to fax the governor’s office in support of the bill. He later was told the office received 70 faxes an hour for hours, jamming up the machine.
“That spoke to me of the power of small business,” he said.
Over his nearly 20 years, Shivers directed the NFIB’s efforts to make health savings accounts a permanent and tax-free way for Pennsylvanians to save money to pay for medical expenses,
ratified changes to Pennsylvania’s unemployment and workers’ compensation systems, and helped enact the nation’s toughest eminent domain reforms.
Trump’s election brought ”euphoric optimism” in small business circles. “Finally, I have a shot to break even” was the hope. “The bloom is starting to fade on the rose” because of a lack of legislative victories,” Shivers said.
Fall CEO and CFO surveys have found drops from
the spring in optimism for employment and sales, Shivers said.
At the top of today’s agenda for small business is tax reform, Shivers said.
That effort received a boost on Thursday as Republicans muscled a $4 trillion budget through the Senate in a major step forward for Trump’s promise of “massive tax cuts and reform.”
The 51-49 vote sets the stage for debate later this year to dramatically overhaul
the U.S. tax code for the first time in three decades, cutting rates for individuals and corporations while eliminating trillions of dollars of deductions and special interest tax breaks, the Associated Press reported.
The tax cuts would add up to $1.5 trillion to the deficit over the coming decade, however.
“These are reforms that change incentives and drive growth, and we’ve never done that before,” said Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey.
In addition to tax cuts/reform, land use regulations and health care are at the top of business’s “to do” list, the lobbyist said.
“We’re very pleased with the rolling back the regulation wave in Washington,” said Shivers.