Home Depot Founder Warns GOP to Pass Tax Reform or Lose Congress

The co-founder of home improvement giant Home Depot is warning the Republican Party to pass tax reform or face losing Congress in the 2018 elections.

In a Wednesday interview, Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus said that if the GOP doesn’t do what it has promised it will likely cost them their jobs.

“They haven’t shown that unity and it’s about time that they circle the wagon and pass something for the American people,” Marcus said, according to Sinclair Broadcasting.

The business leader’s warning comes on the heels of some members of Congress worrying over the “cost” of the tax reform proposals now being considered. This timidity, Marcus says, will cost them.

“If they don’t get it done this year and they don’t pass it before the 2018 election,” Marcus continued. “I can promise you that Nancy Pelosi will be the speaker of the House and Chuck Schumer will be majority leader of the Senate. You want to see money go down the drain and you want to see deficits go up, you just let those two loose.”

His organization, the Job Creators Network, recently started an online petition supporting tax reform that has earned over 126,000 signatures:

Washington does not have a revenue problem, they have a spending problem! We need #TaxCutsNow! https://t.co/V5JBfqrjlb

— Job Creators Network (@JobCreatorsUSA) September 25, 2017

Marcus added that Congress should stop focusing on the “cost” of tax reform, saying, “The question is how much is this going to benefit America, not what the cost is going to be.”

He also slammed the “utter nonsense” that the proposals will only benefit the rich.

“This whole mantra of ‘the rich are going to get richer,’ I don’t care what you do. The rich are going to get more money,” Marcus said.

The entrepreneur insisted that new jobs can’t be created unless businesses can make money and also said he trusts the American people with their money more than he trusts the government to spend it responsibly:

There are 29 million small businesses in America employing 56 million people…
It’s time to give them a break! https://t.co/e3MMlIhcwt

— Job Creators Network (@JobCreatorsUSA) October 11, 2017

Congress has already failed to pass any meaningful repeal or replacement of Obamacare, and Marcus warns that if Republicans similarly fail to live up to their pledge on tax reform it will be a recipe for losing power.

“Passing something that’s passable is better than not doing anything and allowing this Congress to go over to Nancy Pelosi,” Marcus concluded.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.