Investing in Small Business: An Economic Agenda for Main Street, not Wall Street

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, representing 99.9% of all U.S. businesses and employing nearly half of American workers. Small businesses drive innovation and build communities. But corporate monopolies are using their market power and government lobbying to undercut competition, squeeze suppliers, dominate entire industries, and extract tax breaks that squeeze out smaller competitors. Concentrated corporate power threatens the entrepreneurial spirit that built America’s middle class. 

One billionaire holds the wealth of at least a thousand millionaires. Abdul wants to create an economy where billionaires don’t stop small businesses from creating lasting wealth in local communities. That’s why he supports the following set of policies to empower hardworking Michiganders to put more money in their pockets:

Strong Antitrust Enforcement 

  • Create an Office of the Small Business Advocate at the Department of Justice to bring complaints on behalf of small businesses.
  • Codify and strengthen the FTC’s power to block mergers that harm small business competitors, suppliers, and buyers–not just those that raise consumer prices. 
  • Regulate the practice of dominant platforms and large corporations acquiring competitors before they can grow into meaningful rivals. 
  • Extend antitrust scrutiny to markets where a few large buyers dominate a market, which can devastate small suppliers, farmers, and manufacturers. 
  • Challenge exclusive dealing arrangements and loyalty discounts that lock small businesses out of distribution channels, shelf space, or supply networks.
  • Prohibit Big Tech platforms from giving preference to their own products over third-party small businesses in search results, marketplaces, or app stores; and allow small business customers to port their data and require technical interoperability.
  • Enforce the Robinson-Patman Act, which prohibits large buyers from extracting preferential pricing that disadvantages small competitors and suppliers.
  • Regulate coercive terms in franchise agreements and large-buyer supplier contracts.
  • Authorize the FTC to reopen merger approvals where competition has suffered, and require corporations to demonstrate that deals will not harm competition ahead of any mergers taking place.

Banning Corporate PAC Contributions in Politics 

  • Large corporations use their vast financial resources to influence elections and buy access to policymakers, rigging the rules in their favor through tax loopholes, regulatory or legislative carve-outs, and subsidies that small businesses never see. 

Investment in Small Business Revolving Capital

  • Expand the Small Business Association’s (SBA) Manufacturers’ Access to Revolving Credit Loan (MARC) Program and the bipartisan INVEST Act to create a national Small Business Revolving Loan Fund. Fund this expansion via taxes on billionaire wealth.

Reductions in Small Business Taxes

  • Pass the Mom and Pop Tax Relief Act to allow small businesses to deduct the first $25,000 of qualifying business income annually.
  • Allow freelancers and small businesses to deduct healthcare from FICA obligations, matching treatment of other business entities.
  • Increase the employer childcare credit to 40% and provide enhanced deductions for employee training programs.
  • Reduce the employer payroll tax and replace it with an automation capital levy that excludes businesses with less than 50 employees or annual revenue under $5 million.

Investment in Healthcare for Business Owners and Employees

  • Reinstate and expand enhanced premium tax credits that expired in 2025, which left millions facing significant increases in healthcare costs.
  • Increase the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit from 50% to 75% of premium costs and create purchasing pools to improve negotiating power against insurers.
  • Pass Medicare for All to liberate small businesses from the crushing burden of providing health insurance, an essential step to empower the small business sector long term.

Tax Incentives for Worker Cooperatives

  • Follow Colorado’s HB25-1021 model by creating federal capital gains exclusions for owners selling to employees and enhanced deductions for cooperative formation costs.
  • Establish a dedicated Office of Cooperative Development within the SBA to provide technical assistance for businesses transitioning to worker ownership.

Addressing Equity in Small Business Policy

  • Mandate equity in lending practices with transparent reporting by race, gender, and geography, holding financial institutions accountable for discriminatory patterns.
  • Increase funding for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs) that serve underbanked communities