I was interested to see a poll of small business owners in several states, including Maine, that shows the Trump tax cuts mean little for the economic growth of Main Street mom-and-pop businesses. The thrust of the findings is that 69 percent of small business owners don’t expect to be able to hire new employees because of the law, and 59 percent don’t expect to be able to give raises to their workers. This rings true for me. I certainly don’t expect to get enough of a tax cut to make a meaningful investment in my business growth.

I knew this tax law would not be a windfall for small businesses like mine, but it’s infuriating to see how much media attention there has been on the dubious corporate spin about bonuses and raises resulting from the tax law. According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses employ 57 percent of all Mainers and make up 99 percent of all Maine businesses. The law gives enormous, permanent tax cuts worth billions to large corporations, but what do small business owners — and the hundreds of thousands of people in Maine who work for them — get? Other than an even more complicated tax code, not much.

The bottom line is this new law doesn’t treat small businesses like the job creators we are. Lawmakers chose to let big corporations gorge themselves at the public trough, while ignoring the needs of real entrepreneurs who employ so many folks. That’s a snub every Maine small business owner and employee will feel.

Diana Bowen

South China


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