Vice President Kamala Harris will propose a tax deduction of up to $50,000 for new small businesses on Wednesday, a tenfold increase over existing relief and her latest economic policy aimed at winning over middle-class Americans after jumping into the presidential race over a month ago.

  • Carmakazi@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    My [likely ignorant] take is that we need better incentives for workers, renters, and first-time homeowners, not MBA shysters “entrepreneurs” creating “new businesses” dropshipping imported garbage and other ventures that add little value to society.

    • bassomitron@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Tf are you on about? You realize that a huge chunk of small business owners are middle class, right? Hell, many of them are barely holding on at all. My wife is a social worker and started her own “business” this year, which is just a small office she rents so she has a safe place to meet her clients. I promise you we are far from being wealthy. Don’t confuse small business as being riddled with millionaires and billionaires, because that’s just complete nonsense.

      • mozingo@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I assumed they were pointing out how small business tax breaks can be taken advantage of by those wealthy types pretending to be people like your wife. On the other hand, benefits to workers, renters and first time home-owners can’t be exploited as simply and would benefit your wife just the same. But if I’m wrong then, yea, I agree with you 100%.

      • Neuromancer@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        It’s lemmy. Most people don’t get a small business is often tradesmen, the local restaurant down the street or that weird quirky store in your neighborhood.

        They’re also the ones struggling hard right now. I’m no fan of Harris but based on the limited article, I support the idea.

        We need to make it easier for the average person to start a business and have some prosperity.

        I seek out small locally owned businesses as often as I can.

        • Carmakazi@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Starting your own business should not be the best or only vehicle to prosperity. You should be able to make a comfortable living working a normal job that doesn’t break you.

          Failure rate of small business is high, and you can’t blame all of that on lack of startup capital. Bad concept, bad execution, bad location, etc. could all play into it. The taxpayer should not be obliged to keep a “quirky” store running if it doesn’t bring in customers. Throwing good money after bad isn’t going to bring prosperity to anyone in the end.

          Not to mention that they compete with each other, not just the megacorps. I’m pretty sure there are half a dozen hair salons on our main street alone, and most of them sit empty at any given time, endlessly changing hands. Incentivizing startups will only make competition more fierce, so a few more winners but much more losers.

          We don’t need more restaurants giving the community more below minimum wage jobs that can’t be filled. We need that money helping everyone, with rent or groceries or something, so that they can actually have money to spend at the small businesses that exist.

          • bassomitron@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            You’re ignoring the fundamentals of economy by hand waving away all the other types of small businesses and only focusing on the most obvious targets to justify your argument. Construction, legal, retail, medical, mechanical, etc. all make a community even possible. And this benefit is a deduction, not a credit, so taxpayers aren’t directly paying anything for this benefit.

            Look, I’m not disagreeing with you that everyone needs help. I completely agree. I’m also not going to defend all small businesses as being a good thing by default, because there are lots of shitty local places that pay and treat their staff awfully. But I think this is a simple win to allow average people to pursue their goals in business if they want to and make it just a little bit easier for them.

            Fixing rent, grocery costs, healthcare, worker salaries, etc is far more complex than simply giving a tax deduction.

      • johannesvanderwhales@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Real weird that people don’t seem to get that competition from small, local businesses is what we want to end the corporate grip on our lives. Millionaires get venture capital loans, not $50k small business loans.

        • bassomitron@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Yeah, it doesn’t make much sense. Big corpos use shell companies to completely evade tax obligations (e.g. Google, Apple, etc), not get a measly $50k deduction off their enormous profits.

      • forrgott@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        I honestly couldn’t care less about middle class. They’re comfortable. I’m not. Therefore, they don’t need help…

      • Protoknuckles@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        A lot of people do not know the racist connotation of that word. I used to use it all the time until I found out it is antisemitic!

        • mozingo@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          It is? Like I’m honestly interested as an etymology nerd, but I can’t seem to find anything that directly ties this to antisemitism other than a vague “idk it might be.”

          What I see is some people claiming it comes from either a historical sense of “shy” meaning disreputable, or the German word Scheißer, meaning shitter.

          • Protoknuckles@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            You may be right! law.com found the same. I had heard the shylock part, and often time Jewish people are demonized as unscrupulous lawyers and bankers, so it made sense. I’m not sure now… I think I’ll avoid it still to keep people comfortable, even if it is a fun word to say…

            • doingthestuff@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              They way I understood it from the '70s until today was the German shiiters meaning, or bullshitters. Liars, cheats, scammers. Our family has a strong and recent German heritage and connection still, there are some original German speakers in the family still living. So maybe a translation bias.