A group of Senate Democrats — many of whom won in battleground states in the 2024 election — introduced a bill today that seeks to help small-business owners by expanding the startup tax credit from $5,000 to $50,000, mirroring a popular campaign trail pledge from former Vice President Kamala Harris.
The announcement of the Tax Relief for New Businesses Act, shared first with NBC News, comes from a group of Democrats that includes Sens. Jacky Rosen of Nevada; Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire; Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin; Ruben Gallego of Arizona; and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan.
Democrats are searching for an effective counter-message to the Trump administration on the economy, an issue that ranked most important for voters during last year’s election.
Trump told NBC News’ Kristen Welker during an interview on “Meet the Press” that small businesses are “not going to need” relief from tariffs. “They’re going to make so much money,” Trump said.
But many small-business owners are pleading for help from the federal government, including several who joined Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., for a news conference with Democrats in the Capitol yesterday to bring attention to their cause.
The group of Democrats were joined by small-business owners from around the country, including Beth Benike from Minnesota, who said she has three months’ worth of inventory in China she cannot afford to bring to the U.S.
“I have maybe two months’ worth left in my warehouse in Minnesota, and when that’s gone, I have no more revenue. I cannot pay my employees. I cannot pay my bills. I cannot pay the loans which I have leveraged my house against so we could lose our house,” Benike said. “So, I am asking, begging, for support from both sides of both parties, to support our small businesses and get rid of these tariffs on U.S.-owned small businesses.”
In a statement, Rosen said the legislation is important “[e]specially now, at a time of increased economic hardship and uncertainty.”
Her bill would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the limitations for deductible new business expenses. Without Republican buy-in, it will likely go nowhere in the GOP-controlled Senate and House.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have said they won’t support any effort to rebuke the administration’s economic policies.
“I think his policy decisions are the right ones. And I think over time that will bear fruit,” Thune told reporters during a news conference last week.
