Imagine living the American Dream, taking a risk to build a business from nothing, only to watch your tax dollars subsidize the government-backed competitor across the street.
That is exactly what is happening in New York, where a coalition of small business owners went to court last week to stop the Mamdani regime from using taxpayer dollars to compete directly against them.
That is socialism on Main Street. That is the Democratic Party’s economic agenda.
Small businesses are not merely one sector of the American economy. They are the American economy. There are roughly 36 million small businesses across the country, employing nearly half of America’s private-sector workforce.
For more than 50 years, my family has operated a car dealership in Weatherford, Texas. In all that time, I have never been the sole dealer in my market, nor have I asked the government to make me one. In our business, we compete for our customers, and they, not the government, decide who wins.
MILLIONS TAP TRUMP TAX CUTS THIS FILING SEASON AS REFUNDS TOP $3,400
That is capitalism.
Socialism takes that choice away. It does not build a better store. The government picks up the tab, leaving the small business owner across the street to compete against an opponent whose losses are someone else’s problem.
CAPITALISM IS ABOUT INCENTIVES. STOPPING THE STUPIDITY OF SOCIALISM IS A BIG INCENTIVE
Republicans chose a different path.
Through the Working Families Tax Cuts, we made the 20% small business deduction permanent, giving Main Street businesses the certainty to invest, expand and hire. On average, 8 million small business owners are keeping an extra $4,600 — helping them breathe a little easier.
Full expensing, for example, allows a machine shop to deduct the entire cost of qualifying new equipment in the year it’s purchased. We also ended the tax on tips and overtime pay so hardworking Americans can keep more of what they earn.
Already, nearly 20 million workers have benefited from overtime relief alone. We cut red tape, saving $211.8 billion in regulatory costs last fiscal year. In May, the SBA doubled the maximum loan size available to growing businesses, from $5 million to $10 million. The result is an economy where entrepreneurs are once again willing to bet on themselves. Small business optimism is running above its 52-year average, hiring plans are the strongest they have been since 2022, and in July alone, Americans filed 578,926 applications to start new businesses.
That is what happens when Republican leadership puts Main Street first.
Democrats call their approach compassion. Look at what happens to the people they claim to help.
Los Angeles is phasing in a $30 hourly wage for hospitality workers, and a survey of owners this spring found that roughly 650 jobs had already been lost. New York’s delivery-pay mandate allegedly shrank the ranks of active delivery workers by nearly 28,000 and increased the fee on every order by 72%.
Fewer jobs, higher prices, and small businesses are left holding the bill.
Republican-led states have taken a different approach. Over the past year, my home state of Texas added 165,600 jobs — more than any other state. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, who left the Democratic Party in 2023, now calls his city “America’s Sanctuary City from Socialism.”
Same country, same economy, different parties in charge. The results speak for themselves.
THIS RED STATE IS STRENGTHENING ITS GRIP AS AMERICA’S NEXT ECONOMIC HEAVYWEIGHT
As chairman of the House Committee on Small Business, I will always fight for the people willing to put their own money and time on the line to build something of their own. Government should create conditions that enable entrepreneurs to succeed, not use taxpayer dollars to compete against them.
Every single Democrat in Congress voted against the Working Families Tax Cuts. They voted against permanent tax relief for 36 million small business owners. They voted against Main Street.
The choice could not be clearer.
Socialism offers you a government store. Capitalism offers you the keys to your own.
The business owners in that New York courtroom are not asking for a handout. They are asking for something far more fundamental: the freedom to compete, the room to build something of their own, and the right to keep what they have worked so hard to create.
