Tom Underwood, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, Kentucky's leading small-business association, made the following statement recently in response to Gov. Steve Beshear's plan to appoint a panel to review the commonwealth's tax structure:
In recent speeches, Gov. Steve Beshear has announced the formation of a blue-ribbon panel to review recommendations about the future of Kentucky's tax structure. The panel, to be chaired by Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson, will be charged with creating a financial path toward the future.
Over the years, any number of panels have studied the tax system. These groups have been made up of economists, elected officials, industrial leaders and others. What has been missing has been representation from Kentucky's largest employer - its small businesses.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, Kentucky's 70,785 small businesses represent 97 percent of the state's employers and provide paychecks to 51 percent of all Kentuckians. Add to that the 267,261 non-employer small-business owners who have scratched out a career for themselves and a picture of Kentucky's economy begins to emerge - small business has created 60 percent of the net new job growth in Kentucky.
The point could be made that many of these "mom-and-pop" businesses do not have the sophistication and 10,000-foot view of academics and captains of major enterprises, but what they do have is exactly what Kentucky needs: They know how to do more with less. They know how to balance a budget. They do recognize waste when they see it, and most importantly, they know how to create jobs.
As the halls of Frankfort echo with the murmurs of "need for revenue enhancement" and "there must be winners and losers," small-business owners are quietly supporting their communities and the families of their employees. The most recent tax reform effort caused tremendous harm to small businesses and required a special session to make repairs. Small business should be represented among the business representatives on the panel proportionately to the Kentuckians that they employ.
They are the ones with the battle scars of the recession that are still standing. They have never asked for a bailout, nor have they asked anyone to purchase their "troubled assets."
If you want to find a way forward for the commonwealth in troubled financial times, you would be well served to ask the state's largest employer, small business, how to do it. They already have.
NFIB is the nation's leading small business association, with offices in Washington, D.C. and all 50 state capitals. More information is available at www.NFIB.com/newsroom.