One of the most rewarding things about helping to educate people about the relationship between business-friendly public policy and the prosperity to which it leads, is being around to witness the real-world impact on someone’s life. And that’s exactly what happened to me this week when I struck up a conversation with the owner of a small business I frequent. He was smiling broadly and asked me if I’d met the April 15 tax deadline. I assured him I had. He had, too, and then he began to tell me about the huge surprise that awaited him when he arrived to pick up his return from the preparer.
The accountant told the business owner he would be receiving a refund from the state — not at all what he had expected. Why? The accountant told him it was thanks to the tax deduction passed in 2011 by the Republican-led General Assembly. It was designed to allow small business owners to keep more of the money they’ve earned by exempting the first $50,000 in business income from tax. They, of course, could then choose to spend it, save it, pay an employee, expand a product line, buy a delivery vehicle, take a trip to the beach, etc. But importantly, they would decide, not government.
And that’s exactly what the policy has done for this business owner, who is now researching new business supplies he wants to try but hasn’t been able to until now.
When I asked him what went through his head when he realized what this tax policy meant to him, he said: “I jumped, I clapped, I danced.”
And I nearly cried.
