Hampton Roads Small Business Owners Call on Elected Leaders to Reject Corporate Greed
Virginia Beach, VA – Today, with Main Street Action, Affordable Virginia released videos highlighting the stories of two small business owners in the Hampton Roads area who are struggling with high costs and corporate greed. These small business owners are raising their voices to talk about the importance of fairer taxation.
The stories showcase business owners: Lindsay Sims and Angie Boyd, who discuss how small businesses are the cornerstone of every community and the difficulty it is to create and sustain a new business.
“Small businesses are the heart of our communities, but unfair taxation forces them to compete on an uneven playing field,” said Emily Yeatts, Affordable Virginia Campaigns Manager. “We need to reject corporate greed and support policies that ensure small businesses can thrive, not just survive, in today’s economy. We cannot let big corporations like Amazon and Walmart put our small businesses out of business. Lindsay and Angie are perfect examples of how challenging it can be to compete against large corporations that benefit from inequitable tax breaks. ”
"Small business owners like Lindsay and Angie represent the backbone of our economy, yet they face an uphill battle to compete in a system rigged by corporate tax breaks and loopholes," said Richard Trent, Executive Director of Main Street Action. "Our lawmakers must act now to champion policies that support the true drivers of our communities—our local businesses. We’re calling on Virginia's leaders to reject corporate greed and create a fair economic landscape that allows small businesses to thrive, build community wealth, and sustain the vibrancy of Main Street."
“When I was ready to open my brick-and-mortar shop, I quickly learned that traditional financing was inaccessible for me,” said Lindsay Sims, owner of Maison Soleil. “Despite the promise of lifting up businesses like mine, we continue to struggle in a more challenging economic environment while large corporations and the wealthy benefit from tax breaks and loopholes.”
“Our legislators owe it to us, their constituents, to support policy that is based on more than fantasy,” said Angie Boyd, owner of Syncerely Beautiful. “We need real policy with real results for our communities. Ensuring that our economic policies support all business owners equitably is essential, fostering an environment where small businesses can thrive alongside their larger counterparts. We must advocate for reforms that genuinely level the playing field, enabling the true drivers of our economy—our small businesses—to flourish.”
Since its passing, the 2017 Tax Law has benefitted the ultra wealthy and corporations at the expense of small business owners. Many of its provisions are set to expire in 2025.
Here’s the impact:
It gave massive tax giveaways to the wealthiest individuals and largest corporations, slashing the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.
The average household making more than $1 million a year enjoyed an average annual tax cut of roughly $70,000.
In 2020, the richest 1% of Virginians got more than $2.3 billion dollars in tax cuts, giving them 28% of the total benefit from the 2017 Tax Law.