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DOLE ON SMALL BUSINESS
JULY 25, 1996
TRANSCRIPT
Bob Dole, speaking yesterday to employees at a paper clips manufacturer in Pennsylvania. The topic was small business.
SEN. BOB DOLE, Republican Presidential Candidate: I'm proud to say that not only was my father a small business person but so too was my mother. This was a long time ago. Remember the dust bowl days. Remember how tough it might have been if you lived out in our part of the country. And my mother and my father both worked, and we were growing up living in a basement apartment, but during the week, my mother sold Singer sewing machines and vacuum cleaners, loaded ‘em up in her car every morning and drove all over that part of our state, and on Saturday morning, she would conduct sewing classes in a little shop downtown. And the times were tough, and every penny counted. The money my mother earned made a big difference for our family. And from my mother and father both and from my first job at a little drugstore, Dawn's Drugstore, and I drove by it yesterday--I was in my hometown yesterday--I learned that running a small business is not a 9 to 5 job. If you're out there meeting the payroll and trying to make it work and trying to make a profit, which you have a right to do in America, it's a 24 hour a day job. At least you're thinking about 24 hours a day.
(applause)
I learned that when you run a small business, you're doing more than just selling a product or offering a service. You're also putting your name and your reputation on the line each and every day. I learned that the difference between making a profit and being forced to close your doors is often very, very small. And some don't realize that. Somebody has to put up the capital. Somebody has to take the risk. Somebody has to make the decision. Somebody has to reach out and employ people, and then you've got to make it all work. And you've got to find an outlet for whatever you produce. And sometimes it's very , very difficult. We have our ups and downs. It may be weather. It may be some other calamity. It may be an economic recession, whatever. And I learned that while government policies cannot ensure the success of a small business, they can put up enough barriers in your way to almost ensure failure. It just seems to me the best way to create and maintain a positive climate for small business in this country, the best way to allow millions of men and women to direct their own economic destiny is to elect a President who will be on your side. I will be on your side, a President who understands what it takes to run a small business. And I'll do more than just offer words to small businessmen and women varied by taxes and stifled by regulation after regulation after regulation. I will offer action, and I will stand up for the mom and pop store, the new high-tech company, and the aspiring woman entrepreneur with a small business opportunity plan that will put government in your corner and not on your back. How would that be for a change, in your corner, and not on your back?
(applause)
I will support reform of our state tax system, so a family-owned business can remain in the family, instead of being given to Uncle Sam. That's No. 1. I mentioned that earlier. (applause) I will sign capital gains tax reduction into law unleashing billions of dollars in locked up capital that can be invested in small business. That's a big one. It's going to mean a lot of jobs and a lot of opportunities.
(applause)
And I will enforce the Paper Work Reduction Act to release small business of the regulatory paper work burden and I will create an inter-agency regulatory sun setting task force to be chaired by the director of the management of Office and Budget and the administrator of the Small Business Administration and charge it--that's the important part--and charge it with the mission of reviewing all federal regulations and identifying those that are excessive or unnecessary, and if they're excessive or unnecessary, we modify them or get rid of them. That's what we need to do.
(applause)
I will also restore a meaningful home office deduction in the tax code. I'll bet there are a lot of people in this room who would like to avoid the traffic, we got computers now, we got all this technology. You can probably do your work at home. And we think you ought to be able to do your work at home, particularly somebody trying to raise a family, a single parent, or a mother with small children--staying home with your children. And we're going to have a meaningful home office deduction, and we're going to make it stick. (applause) I believe the choice is clear. If you want more freedom, you're looking at the freedom candidate. If you want less regulation, if you want less regulation, you're looking at a less regulation candidate. If you want lower taxes, certainly not Bill Clinton. I know he promised, and he'll probably promise again. He likes to make promises. And another reason to vote for me is to help keep the promises we already made to you in 1992.
(applause)
And a lot of you voted for him because he made all the promises. (applause) So again I want to thank Gov. Ridge, and I want to make certain in my administration that I offer policies that will guarantee the expansion and not the extinction of the American dream. The American dream is very, very important. Some have reached it, some are still trying to reach it, some may never reach it, but we've got to keep it alive, and that's what America is all about, is creating jobs--(applause)--and the American dream.
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