Small business relief has come, but more is needed, Sen. Marshall says | Opinion

Walk down Main Street in almost any Kansas town, and you’ll find the same thing — a family name above the door, an owner who knows your order, or a business that’s been there through good years and hard ones alike.

It’s these Kansans that are the backbone of our economy, and National Small Business Week is our chance to recognize them.

If we want a stronger economy, stronger families, and stronger communities, we need strong small businesses.

The question we should be asking during Small Business Week is simple: Who are we fighting for?

I believe we are fighting for the Main Street employers who keep our small towns alive and our economy growing.

Because when small businesses succeed, families have jobs. When they expand, communities grow. And when they are overburdened or pushed out, entire towns feel it.

Too often, the government gets this backwards. Instead of empowering small businesses, it treats them like they are giant corporations with compliance departments and teams of lawyers.

We have seen the results: excessive regulations, inflationary spending, higher energy costs, and burdensome mandates that make it harder to hire, expand, and compete.

The best thing the government can do is simple – get out of the way.

Lower taxes. Reduce unnecessary regulations. Unleash American energy. And let entrepreneurs do what they do best.

We’ve already made progress on that front.

This Tax Day brought good news for many small businesses across Kansas. Because Republicans delivered the Working Families Tax Cuts, job creators are seeing meaningful relief and greater certainty.

We took measures like bonus depreciation, full expensing for new capital investments, and interest deductibility to give Kansas job creators the certainty they need to plan, invest, and grow.

That’s real money staying in the hands of business owners.

But there is always more work to be done.

We’ve also introduced several bills aimed at reducing costs and removing unnecessary burdens that continue to hold small businesses back.

Kansas small businesses are still paying billions in hidden credit card swipe fees every year. For many, these fees are second only to labor costs and often higher than utilities or employee health care.

We introduced the Credit Card Competition Act to bring real competition into the payments system and lower those costs, so Main Street businesses can keep more of what they earn.

Access to capital is another major challenge. Rural and low-income communities across Kansas are often left behind when investment decisions are made.

Our Investing in All of America Act helps change that by unlocking private investment for rural communities, manufacturers, and growing industries. It does this without new taxpayer spending by encouraging investment where it is needed most.

And I’ve heard loud and clear from Kansas small business owners about the Corporate Transparency Act. The reporting requirements are too costly, too complex, and too intrusive.

Requiring small business owners to submit sensitive personal information to a federal database was a mistake. I’m glad to join efforts to fix this and push legislation that protects small businesses from unnecessary federal overreach.

Small Business Week is a time to recognize and celebrate, but also acknowledge the continued work to be done. Please know that I will always put Main Street before Wall Street and will keep fighting to ensure small businesses have the tools that they need to thrive.

If you’re a small business owner in Kansas and you’ve got a story or a concern, my door is always open.

— Republican Roger Marshall represents Kansas in the United States Senate.

This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 5:04 AM with the headline "Small business relief has come, but more is needed, Sen. Marshall says | Opinion."