Group launches multimillion dollar campaign for small business tax cuts

A business group on Tuesday rolled out a multimillion dollar campaign to pass tax cuts by Thanksgiving as Trump administration officials and leading GOP lawmakers have said they want to pursue broader tax reform.

The Job Creators Network, a coalition that includes former leaders of Home Depot, Best Buy and BB&T bank, argues that tax cuts for small businesses would lead to job creation and wage growth. The group is pushing for a tax-cut bill to pass this fall that is retroactive to the start of 2017.

The group, which counts heavy hitter Trump backers including former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) among its allies, said its campaign will include a bus tour that will make stops in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere in the country and advertising on television, radio, print and digital platforms. The group also launched a website called TaxCutsNow.com to highlight the campaign and to get people to sign a petition.

{mosads}”A tax cut for small businesses and American families is long overdue,” JCN president and CEO Alfredo Ortiz said. “To generate the support necessary to pass tax cuts now and provide hardworking taxpayers with some relief, the public must understand the benefits of tax cuts including higher wages, more jobs, revitalized Main Streets, and a better economy. JCN’s Tax Cuts Now campaign provides this ammunition that is necessary to win the tax cut fight.”

The pitch comes as key administration officials and GOP lawmakers meet with President Trump on Tuesday afternoon to discuss tax reform.

The launch of JCN’s campaign comes after the group ran an op-ed in USA Today last month that was signed by Gingrich and former Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson.

In the op-ed, Gingrich and Anderson said that Republicans don’t have enough time this year to pursue a tax code overhaul and instead should prioritize tax cuts ahead of the midterm elections. Gingrich has also urged the White House and lawmakers to focus on tax cuts in private meetings.

“Tax cuts by November beat comprehensive reform next spring because changes will take time to take effect and for voters to feel the impact,” they said. “A Republican majority can always come back to tax reform in 2019.”