Nation’s Restaurant News: Restaurants, Retail Groups Hail Passage of Tax Plan

With the passing of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act by Congress comes mixed feelings among trade associations, groups representing foodservice and food retailers and small business councils. According to a recent Nation’s Restaurant News article, those in favor of the bill believe it will help grow small businesses while critics say it merely helps the richest 1 percent.

Cicely Simpson, executive vice president for public affairs at the National Restaurant Association, believes, “This bill addresses the needs of small business and will help restaurants remain strong economic engines and job creators.”

On the other side are those like David Levine, president, CEO and co-founder of the American Sustainable Business Council, who think now is not the time for this reform. Levine said the bill “fails as corporate tax reform because it cuts the wrong taxes at the wrong time. Cutting corporate and pass-through taxes now, during this strong business cycle, will not achieve the growth Republicans say it will. Instead, the plan will boost the deficit, risk inflation and require future cuts to infrastructure, research, and education investments that all businesses rely on as key building blocks.”