PHOENIX — Some Arizona small business owners are among those worried about the Biden administration's spending proposals.
Between COVID relief, infrastructure, and now the American Families Plan, just announced by the White House, those three domestic spending initiatives total six trillion dollars. That is a lot of zeros to entrepreneurs who are still just coming out of a massive economic downturn brought on by the pandemic.
"I'm not against funding our government. I believe in government. I believe in infrastructure. I believe in policing, and I believe in these things that cost our country and government money and I want to contribute to that, but it has to be reasonable," says MTJ Electric President Mark Jennings.
He's worried that higher corporate taxes will hurt his business and by extension his employees, because big businesses and corporations are the companies that hire smaller businesses like his electrical contracting company.
"At what point do those people choose to slow down their capital investments and 100% of my revenue and therefore the livelihood of myself and everybody that works for MTJ Electrical are affected by the decisions of those people," Jennings explains.
President Joe Biden promised not to raise taxes on households making less than $400 thousand dollars annually, but with a potential six trillion dollars in spending, CPA Robert Hockensmith questions if that math even adds up.
"Usually, when a tax law is passed, the politicians come out and say, 'it's going to be paid for by the rich.' There's not enough tax that the government can take from the rich in order to cover this," says Hockensmith.
Many small businesses in Arizona are already barely hanging on says Greater Phoenix Chamber president and CEO Todd Sanders.
"That kind of uncertainty, along with potential significant tax increases for some of the businesses, really raises the question about whether or not they're going to be around. And what does that mean, jobs for Arizona families," explains Sanders.
For Jennings, all of the proposed ideas may not be bad, but he questions the timing, "It just feels really bad to me."
