Hearing of the Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee - Opening Statement of Sen. Rubio, Hearing on

Hearing

Today's hearing of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship will come to order.

Thank you to everyone who made the time to be here today to discuss this important topic.

This hearing is timely, as the full measure of last year's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act continues to set in, amidst various other competitiveness policies, such as confronting China on unfair economic practices.

In the new, global economy, it isn't enough to just cut taxes; you have to cut the right ones.

In the new tax law passed late last year, a provision called Economic Opportunity Zone was included.

This law, which was championed by my good friend, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, will encourage investment in economically distressed communities by allowing investors to defer certain taxes on income if they invest in low-income communities.

The new global economy has increased the wealth of many Americans, but destabilized entire regions in our country and left behind millions of workers.

Pushing investment to seek out the largest return -- regardless of which nation, or area within the nation-- has deserted workers in our own back yards.

Parts of Florida have experienced this firsthand. The disparities are a testament to the uneven prosperity of globally-driven rapid growth.

This is where Economic Opportunity Zones comes in. While investors in a global economy might seek a bigger bottom line by shipping jobs to a foreign country, it cuts taxes on the investment that makes jobs here in America.

The global economy is marked by pushing investment to maximize short-term gain, but Economic Opportunity Zones reduces that short-sighted incentive by cutting taxes on investments held for at least 10 years in lower-income areas.

This tax provision isn't for outside businessmen to make a quick buck in low-income areas. This provision encourages long-term gain for the community.

Small businesses like the ones discussed here today aren't just competing in their own, local economies; they're competing against the entire world.

This is not a relaxed environment. Day in, day out, small businesses seek out a competitive edge through hard work, creativity, and innovation.

If a small businesses has a great breakthrough, it doesn't stay small for long.

America's greatest competitive advantage has always been the ingenuity of its people. Tax cuts should play to that strength.

As Congress looks to make some of the provisions of last year's tax law permanent, we should put full expensing near the top of that list.

Full expensing allows businesses to immediately deduct their capital investments instead of eating their cost over decades at a time.

This means more money to spend on better products, facilities, and new shops.

It removes a barrier to small business owners putting their ideas into action, making it easier to pull designs off blueprints and onto shop floor.

Unlike other tax cuts, which cut tax rates without regard for investment plans or the creation of American jobs, full expensing rewards the future economy, not the past one.

It's the tax cut for the American idea.

The tax law's full expensing provisions for the next five years is the greatest thing we can do to remake the America high-wage jobs, for the 21st century. We should make it permanent.

I now recognize Ranking Member Cardin to offer an opening statement.

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