BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Goldman Sachs announced Friday that it will be bringing its $100 million initiative to help small businesses in rural areas to Alabama, an announcement that was joined by a bipartisan pledge from U.S. Sen. Katie Britt and Congresswoman Terri Sewell to ease tax burdens for small business owners.
The announcement was made as part of of a Goldman Sachs Punchbowl News event at the Innovation Depot in Birmingham. The financial firm is launching a $100 million Investment in Rural Communities initiative, an expansion of its 10,000 Small Businesses program, which provides small businesses with loans, business training programs and access to grant funds.
“I couldn’t do it without a wonderful partner in the Senate, Sen. Britt, (and) I am just honored to be a part of this with you, and thank you for all that you do for the state of Alabama,” Sewell, a Democrat, said to Britt, a Republican.
“As a member of the Committee on Ways and Means, our tax code should reflect what we want to see in our society, and I want you all to know that I am committed to giving more tax incentives for small business owners to make sure that access to capital is not just a dream, but a reality.”
The U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means is the chief tax-writing committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, giving Sewell a significant advantage in getting new tax policy to the House floor.
Britt holds considerable sway on government spending in being a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, and echoed Sewell’s pledge in saying that she and Sewell shared “a common goal” in advocating for small business owners.
“Looking at overburdensome regulation, knowing that the cumulative impact of all the things you see coming out of D.C. hits the little guy the hardest, (and) pushing back on that over and over again, I continue to see as one of my jobs,” Britt said.
“Next year is going to obviously be a really big year for tax policy in Washington, D.C., and I am committed, just as you heard from Congresswoman Sewell, to making sure that small businesses are taken care of; ensuring that families, entrepreneurs and small businesses have the opportunity to thrive.”
While the new rural initiative had just launched in Alabama, Tim Aho, a business owner in Hoover, had graduated from the 10,000 Small Businesses program’s online component last year, and spoke at the event to the program’s success.
“With the excellent foundation that 10KSB provided, I feel more confident in my decisions,” Aho said, who owns Aho Architects.
“I trust myself to think creatively and respond to the circumstances that are affecting all of us; 10KSB has given me a growth mindset, and since completing the program, we have grown by 43%.”
Nationwide, the 10KSB program has 16,106 graduates as of Friday, according to Asahi Pompey, Goldman Sachs global head of corporate engagement, who also praised the small business owners attending the event as being a key component to Alabama’s identity.
“We know that small businesses are not just a part of Alabama, you are Alabama,” Pompey said.
“The businesses here are immensely diverse, and uniquely committed from the agricultural powerhouse in the coastal plains, to the manufacturing muscle of Huntsville and Birmingham.”
Pompey also shared the results of a recent survey conducted by Goldman Sachs in which the company polled more than 2,200 small business owners in rural areas from 48 states.
In the survey, 72% of respondents indicated that they were dissatisfied with the current small business tax policy, 70% felt that not enough had been done to alleviate the regulatory burdens on small businesses, and 73% said that inflationary pressures impacting small businesses had not been sufficiently addressed.
A key reason for deciding to launch the new initiative in Alabama, which will see Goldman Sachs partner with Jefferson State Community College, was that the state met all the criteria of having an environment friendly to small businesses, according to John Rogers, Goldman Sachs executive vice president.
“The basic principles of which we’ve operated this program, we won’t go in places where we’re not wanted, we’re not going to places that don’t have the support of the leadership, (and) we’re not going to a place that doesn’t praise small businesses,” Rogers said.
“We couldn’t think of any better state than to be here because of that criteria.”
Alabama Daily News later asked Sewell what her specific plans were to create tax policy more favorable to small businesses, to which she shared that she currently had several pieces of legislation in the works.
“I have several bills that would actually give a credit to small businesses that would help them be able to have their own access to capital,” she told ADN. “I think the federal government should invest in small businesses, and one way we can do that is to incentivize the behavior we want to see in our tax code.”
Small businesses account for the vast majority of businesses in the state, with approximately 99.4% of all businesses in Alabama being small businesses, and employing nearly half of the state’s workforce.
“Small businesses are the pillar of our state, they are the backbone to our economy,” Helena Duncan, President and CEO of the Business Council of Alabama, told ADN.
“For them to be recognized and have this opportunity to hear speakers like Katie Britt to talk about what it means to Alabama is very important to them, and I feel like it will empower them to continue to do what they’re doing.”