Small Business Voices Need to Be Heard

California is home to more than three million small businesses that are vital to our economic fabric. From bakeries to tech start-ups, entrepreneurs are constantly driving economic growth and finding new and better ways to solve old problems. Nationally, small businesses create two-thirds of new jobs each year. A strong California depends on strong small businesses, and it’s only common sense that our policies work to encourage entrepreneurship.

Unfortunately, our small businesses face an uneven playing field on too many issues – from taxes to access to capital. Large corporations have resources to spend on lobbying and wooing lawmakers with campaign donations, which often means their voices are included in policy decisions while small business voices aren’t.

We can solve this problem by listening to real small business owners and incorporating their feedback into our policy decisions. They know better than anyone else about what works and what doesn’t work for entrepreneurship.

As the California Director for Small Business Majority, a national small business advocacy organization headquartered in California, I’m committed to listening to small business owners and making sure their concerns are heard by policymakers. That’s why last May, I helped bring more than 30 California small business owners to Washington, D.C. to meet with policymakers and other small business leaders at Small Business Majority’s annual Small Business Leadership Summit.

Another way to listen to small business owners is through interactive roundtable discussions. Small Business Majority regularly hosts these types of discussions to solicit feedback and answer questions from small business owners on a variety of small business issues.

This year, taxes are sure to be a high-profile issue for small businesses. Too often, corporations are able to use loopholes on issues like property taxes to avoid paying their fare share, which leaves small businesses holding the bill. California has numerous opportunities to improve our tax code to help even the playing field.

To collect feedback from small business owners on what we can do to improve our tax code, Small Business Majority’s team will be holding educational roundtables throughout California over the upcoming months. Our next one is on February 18 in Los Angeles. In the meantime, I’m based right here in Concord, and I’d love to chat with local small business owners one-on-one. Feel free to shoot me an email.

Small business owners are crucial to our economic future. I’m looking forward to working with local entrepreneurs to help ensure lawmakers create an environment where they can thrive.