COLUMBUS, Ohio — Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) honored Rep. Jason Smith with the Small Business Champion Award for fighting to protect the interests of small businesses while serving in the U.S. Congress.

“Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy and create seven out of 10 new jobs in the U.S.,” said Smith. “Thanks to significant tax relief and pro-growth policies, small businesses are more optimistic about the future than they’ve been in decades. President Trump and I are working hard to get Washington out of the way to help small businesses – and America – thrive.”

Smith is an original author of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which President Trump signed into law in late 2017. Since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was enacted, 1.5 million jobs have been created in the U.S. and the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest rate since 2000. Last quarter, the GDP growth in the U.S. was 4.2 percent, the strongest growth pace in nearly four years.

Smith led the charge in Congress to repeal burdensome regulations and policies that harm family businesses. He is the author of HR 5422, the Death Tax Repeal Act, which would fully repeal the estate tax that targets family operations when they pass their businesses or farms on to the next generation.

“People work hard their whole lives to build something to pass on to their children only to have the IRS step in and slap heavy taxes on their families a second time,” said Smith. “Death should not be a taxable event.”

HARDI, which represents more than 480 distributor members with more than 5,000 branch locations, presented the honor to Smith during his visit to Crescent Parts & Equipment.

“HARDI is proud to present our Small Business Champion Award to Congressman Jason Smith,” said Palmer Schoening, Vice President of HARDI Government Affairs. “Congressman Smith leads the fight to repeal the death tax in the House of Representatives and as a member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, he helped pass the most significant tax relief for families and small businesses in over thirty years. Congressman Smith is helping companies like Crescent Parts create good paying jobs in his district and across the state of Missouri.”

For more information, visit www.hardinet.org.

Publication date: 09/06/18

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