The economy will not come back if we are not pro small business

Update from the Speaker

Friends:

“Is it good or bad for small businesses?” That was the question a small business owner posed to me in Tyler this week. He asked me to think about that question every time I made a decision in the legislature that could impact the nearly 400,000 small business owners across the state. It’s an important question to consider because small business owners—Texas’ ranchers, farmers, real estate agents, restaurant owners and high tech entrepreneurs—make up the backbone of our state’s economy. Each started with an idea that grew into a business that now helps fuel our economic engine, hiring people in every pocket of our state.

Some 99 percent of all businesses in the U.S. are small businesses. In Texas, small businesses have an economic impact of $771 billion. That impact is one of the reasons I try to meet with business groups whenever I am traveling, to hear their concerns and learn how government can help—or learn when it is best to stay out of the way. This particular business owner was at a business roundtable I had gathered in east Texas to discuss these important questions.

The advice I heard in Tyler was similar to what I’ve heard from businesses all across the state. If we want to help our small businesses grow, succeed and create jobs, we have to:

• Keep taxes low,
• Keep regulation out of the way of innovation,
• Maintain an environment that encourages entrepreneurship,
• Keep government effective, but limited, and
• Train up a skilled workforce that will run the economy of tomorrow.

We have strong, conservative leadership in Texas that understands the value of small businesses, and it is one of the reasons Texas has weathered the national recession. We have cultivated a pro-business environment. In fact, Texas was ranked second for the “friendliest states for small businesses” in 2010 by the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. That ranking is important, but what is more important is that we keep leadership in place that understands the value of business for our state’s economy, and for retaining and growing jobs for our people.

This fall, let’s work hard together to elect more Republicans to the Texas House to help keep Texas’ economic engine running.

Sincerely,

Speaker Joe Straus