Hultgren unveils small business legislation at St. Charles supermarket

Laz Marquez can stand outside the front door of his La Huerta supermarket in St. Charles and see his competitors closing in on him. There's a Jewel just across the access road. There's a giant Meijer across Randall Road. Costco's shadow isn't far away.

To compete, he doesn't sell in bulk like Costco. He doesn't offer packaged meats like Jewel. And he doesn't spend big money on advertisements like Meijer. Instead, he offers the avocados and tortillas in quantities and varieties he knows his customers want. He offers freshly butchered pork and specialty meats like chorizo. Instead of a deli or hot food bar, he has his own taqueria inside the store.

But what also makes Marquez different is his lack of employees. They are paid prevailing wages, but he can only afford about 10 employees at each of his seven locations.

Now Marquez is teaming up with U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren in hopes of becoming a larger employer.

Hultgren announced his Bring Small Businesses Back Tax Reform Act Wednesday morning at Marquez's store.

The act would set a tax rate as low as 10 percent on some small business profits. It would allow for immediate expensing and deduction of all equipment purchases to further reduce tax liability. The act also would strip away special accounting rules so small businesses could use simplified cash accounting methods based on the business' checkbook for tax purposes. That provision would apply to all businesses with less than $25 million in gross receipts.

"The intention is not punishing growth but encouraging growth," Hultgren said. "We need to grow revenue for the federal government, but I think the best way to go would be to have more taxpayers."

Hultgren said studies he's seen show small businesses employ 2.4 million Illinois residents. But only one in five of those businesses believe they are in a position to hire more people.

"To me, that's tragic," Hultgren said. "It's a big reason why this recovery has been so slow."

Marquez said he spends more than 90 percent of his time making sure his accounting and business practices are in compliance with federal, state and local regulations.

"Above growing the business, above getting more customers, we have to be in compliance," Marquez said. "There's a massive regulatory burden. It's not that the rules are necessarily wrong. It's that all of that falls to our compliance department. And that's me. I'm it. And it's hard to find out how to comply. There is no map."

There are other threats to Marquez's business that Hultgren's legislation doesn't address. Marquez pointed to government assistance programs as his No. 1 obstacle to attracting and hiring employees.

"Competing against free money is very difficult for hiring help, but in the last two or three years, it's become acute," Marquez said. "People tell me, 'Why should I work for you when I get money to not work? I'm not against assistance, but it is acceptable now to just get whatever you can and not work. They think they will actually lose money by working."

Hultgren said that goes against the traditional American work ethic.

"We need safety nets, but when businesses can't find people to work and people are asking themselves, 'Is it really worth it for me to work,' it feels so foreign."

Marquez also spoke against any large increase to the minimum wage. He said his workers earn more than the minimum wage, but a government mandate forcing an even higher wage would "crush what's left of the business." He would have no money for basic capital investments such as the $6,000 floor cleaning machine he bought not long ago. The machine allows him to use one employee to clean the floors instead of four. That allows all of them to be more productive, he said.

"For a business with deeper pockets, raising the minimum wage may not have that big of an impact," Marquez said. "Our pockets are not that deep."