OpinionAugust 28, 2019

Misnamed mandate. That's what small business owners think of the Corporate Transparency Act. As the owner of SOTO Property Solutions in Cape Girardeau. This bill is a one-sized-fits-all mandate that will hurt more than 500,000 small businesses across Missouri...

Misnamed mandate. That's what small business owners think of the Corporate Transparency Act. As the owner of SOTO Property Solutions in Cape Girardeau. This bill is a one-sized-fits-all mandate that will hurt more than 500,000 small businesses across Missouri.

Here's why. Small business owners like myself already face unreasonable regulations by the federal government. This bill would add the additional burden of handing over personal information periodically for as long as I stay in business. That information will be kept on file by the Treasury Department and could be accessed by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies by a simple request. This raises serious privacy concerns to me. In fact, 80% of fellow NFIB small business owners also think a mandate like this is a bad idea.

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The typical small business owner has just a handful of employees who already have a huge workload on their plate. This bill, which only applies to businesses with 20 or fewer employees, puts a target on small business owners.

This legislation would not only impose civil penalties up to $10,000 but it would also make it a federal crime if small business owners don't comply. They could even go to prison for up to three years. While I appreciate Congress' efforts to catch criminals like terrorists and drug dealers, I don't want to see small business owners themselves be made into criminals in the process.

DAVID SOTO, Cape Girardeau

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