FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Matthew Haller, 202-662-0770

Jenna Weisbord, 202-662-0766

mhaller@franchise.org

jweisbord@franchise.org

IFA PRESIDENT AND CEO DISAPPOINTED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA’S SPEECH FOR CORPORATE-ONLY TAX REFORM

WASHINGTON, July 30, 2013 — International Franchise Association President & CEO Steve Caldeira released the following statement in response to President Obama’s speech in Chattanooga, Tenn., calling for more federal government spending and reiterating corporate-only tax reform:

“The franchise industry has consistently advocated for comprehensive tax reform that simplifies a cumbersome, out-of-date and costly tax code for businesses of all sizes, so it is disappointing to hear the president advocate for tax reform that picks winners and losers between large and small businesses. While we agree that renewing America’s global competitiveness and empowering job creation is critical for economic growth, we maintain that tax reform must include both the corporate and individual sides of the tax code. Only fixing the corporate side is not true tax reform.

“The franchise industry represents both corporations and pass-thru entities, across many sectors and account for one out of every eight private sector jobs in this country. Our industry has businesses of many sizes and many of them pay higher effective tax rates than other industries due to an inefficient and complicated code.”

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About the International Franchise Association

The International Franchise Association is the world’s oldest and largest organization representing franchising worldwide. Celebrating over 50 years of excellence, education and advocacy, IFA works through its government relations and public policy, media relations and educational programs to protect, enhance and promote franchising. Through its media awareness campaign highlighting the theme, Franchising: Building Local Businesses, One Opportunity at a Time, IFA promotes the economic impact of the more than 825,000 franchise establishments, which support nearly 18 million jobs and $2.1 trillion of economic output for the U.S. economy. IFA members include franchise companies in over 300 different business format categories, individual franchisees and companies that support the industry in marketing, law and business development.

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