A recent hearing held by the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means to gauge how the Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts has affected businesses featured testimony by Illinois business owners.
During the hearing, Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL), who represents the state's 6th District, touted the business owners' "success stories" related to the GOP's tax reform measure, which was signed into law last year.
"The criticism of the bill just strikes me as obtuse and hyperbole in a lot of ways," Roskam said. "When the bill was described as it was going through the process as the worst bill ever or Armageddon ... it's just hyperbole."
Atlas Tool and Die owner Zach Mottl was among the Illinois business owners who testified that their company and employees have benefited from the tax cuts.
"My business has booked as much revenue, and we are only in the beginning of the second quarter, we've booked as much revenue as we did in the entire last year," Mottl told the committee.
Mottl's words sounded so good to Roskam that he asked the Lyons business owner to repeat that his company's revenue was up three times in a row.
"So we know what that means for your family, right ... it's still America. Nothing wrong with making money," Roskam told Mottl as he asked him to explain what this means for Atlas employees as well.
Mottl explained his workers are benefiting from the law as well.
"Last year, we increased our 401(k) match," he said. "We now match 100 percent of the first 3 percent of the employee's contribution. We had a bonus at the end of last year. I think the bigger picture, the long-term picture, is the wage growth. ... I see nothing but benefits for the worker. You know a healthy employer leads to a healthy job for the employee, and my company in the years past, when we were struggling, we couldn't afford to do those things.
"Now we can; now we are reinvesting," Mottl said.
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