Latino Entrepreneurship is Thriving, But Challenges Remain

This week is Small Business Week, an opportunity to celebrate entrepreneurs and small businesses in our local community

And for the Latino community, there is a lot to celebrate.

Despite some serious headwind, Latino small businesses and Latino entrepreneurship rates are growing. According to a recent study, nearly one in four new businesses is Hispanic-owned, representing the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. small businesses. The same study said that Hispanic-owned businesses employ nearly three million workers nationwide.

Finally, the Latino Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – an economic indicator measuring the total value of goods and services produced during a specific period –is $3.2 trillion. One way to think about this staggering number is that if Latinos were their own separate economy, they would be the 5th largest global economy, ahead of India, the United Kingdom, France, and Canada!

Yet, despite this success story, Latino entrepreneurs and small businesses face challenges at the state and national levels.

At the state level, instead of making it easier for entrepreneurs (including many Latino entrepreneurs) to succeed, some state lawmakers are making it harder for home bakers and cooks to build their passion into a lucrative business.

In Nevada, budding entrepreneurs selling fresh fruits and fresh juices on street corners may have to shut down if some lawmakers get their way. In Colorado, state lawmakers recently killed legislation that would have made it easier for tamaleros to sell tamales on the street.

The Hispanic and immigrant communities take an especially hard hit as home cooking is often the first step toward entrepreneurship and pursuing their version of the American Dream.

Home cooking critics contend that these “cottage food” laws are necessary to prevent food contamination and unsanitary food practices, but common sense and millennia of lived experience tell us that homemade food is safe when made with care and cleanliness. If it weren’t, no one would eat it.

The good news is that in Arizona, common sense prevailed last year when a bipartisan group of state lawmakers helped pass legislation making it easier and legal for tamaleras to sell tamales. My organization, The LIBRE Initiative, organized and mobilized the Latino community in the state to make sure state lawmakers did the right thing to allow food cooks and entrepreneurs to operate legally in the state.

We are following this template to mobilize the Latino community around another major threat facing middle-class families and small business owners: the expiration of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

In 2017, Congress enacted significant tax relief for middle-class families and job creators, resulting in economic opportunity and prosperity. Latinos particularly benefited from this growth. In the years following this legislation, Latino unemployment rates reached historic lows, and entrepreneurship and home ownership rates soared.

Unfortunately, several provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will expire this year unless Congress and the White House act. If not, the average family may have to pay an average of $1,500 more in taxes next year. For some families living paycheck to paycheck with little or no savings, $1,500 is a month’s worth of groceries.

Now is not the time to raise taxes on middle-class families and small business owners. What’s needed are more pro-growth economic policies that will expand opportunity and prosperity for all.

Small Business Week is an opportunity to celebrate the American spirit of determination and resilience, to take a chance to open a business and make an honest living doing something you love.

The Latino community knows that the United States is a special place where dreams can become reality. Far too many of us have fled places where the system is rigged, and meritocracy takes a back seat to crony capitalism and corruption.

State and federal lawmakers should not erect barriers between Latino entrepreneurs and their dreams in the form of unnecessary regulatory red tape and higher taxes. During this Small Business Week, it’s time for the Latino community to make our voices heard

(*) Sandra Benitez is the executive director of The LIBRE Initiative, the country’s largest center-right Latino organization.

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