Peter Breen worries that the damage caused by the lingering coronavirus crisis could have lasting effects.
“The great difficulty our small businesses are facing due to this pandemic could be a problem we’re still forced to deal with years from now,” Breen, who is running against incumbent state Rep. Terra Costa-Howard (D-Glen Ellyn) in the 48th District, told the Prairie State Wire. “Elected officials who for decades have ignored or belittled the need for small businesses have better come to their senses immediately or we may be facing a crisis in our communities that we never recover from.”
Breen points to a new U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Metlife survey that concludes over the next two weeks, well over half of all small businesses across the country could be closed as all the justification that’s needed for his growing concern.
As it is, researchers highlight that nearly a quarter of all small businesses across the country have now at least temporarily shuttered and another 40% indicate they could soon join the downturn. Across the country, more than 10 million people filed for unemployment benefits over the last two weeks and 43% of small business owners now admit they fear they have just a six-month window before a permanent shutdown becomes unavoidable for them.
“All of this comes as a gut punch,” Breen said. “We as a country have always embraced our small businesses and our entrepreneurs, and to see so many of these enterprises suffering and even being forced to shut down just breaks you down. Small businesses are the backbone of our community and the hub of our economic life.”
Breen is now calling on local government to take the lead in rebuilding the state.
“Government would be at its best in this crisis by lifting tax burdens on small business and by removing regulations from health care-related small businesses,” he said. “Up until now, the ruling establishment here in Illinois has spent every dime of tax dollars that’s come in while holding nothing back for a rainy day fund. The corrupt politicians in control of this state hiked taxes without regard for small businesses and working people of the state. This crisis has laid bare the foolishness of those policy choices made over the last decade by politicians who were reporting to special interest groups and not the people.”
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