WASHINGTON, D.C. (Sept. 26, 2024) – The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s leading small business advocacy organization, hosted a Capitol Hill press conference during its 2024 Small Business Tax Deduction Summit featuring NFIB President Brad Close, Senator Steve Daines (R-MT), and small business owners who called for passage of the Main Street Tax Certainty Act to make the 20% Small Business Deduction permanent for America’s 33 million small businesses.
The 20% Small Business Deduction was created as a part of the 2017 tax law to level the playing field between small businesses and larger corporations. It has empowered small business owners to overcome the economic challenges of the last few years – but it’s set to expire at the end of 2025. The Main Street Tax Certainty Act would make the 20% Small Business Deduction permanent and avoid a massive tax hike on a majority of America’s small businesses.
NFIB President Brad Close, Senator Daines, and NFIB members shared how the expiration of the 20% Small Business Deduction would impact Main Street, their employees and communities, and the broader U.S. economy.
U.S. Senator Steve Daines said:
“I am a champion for the ‘Main Street Tax Certainty Act.’ This is something we must pass, because if we do not do this next year, many of the businesses, the small businesses across America, will face about a 30 percent increase in their taxes. “One of the problems in Washington, D.C., is introducing uncertainty based on expiring tax provisions, and that creates a lot of problems for businesses across America. They don’t know what D.C. is going to do. This is why it’s important that we make these tax provisions permanent so these small business owners behind me aren’t having to worry more about what’s going on in D.C. They have enough to worry about as it is. Let’s not add Congress to their worry list. We need to make these tax provisions permanent. And I’m grateful to stand with these business owners in this fight on Capitol Hill.”
Watch Daines’ full remarks here.
NFIB President Brad Close said:
“The small business owners here today are here to tell Congress that they need to pass the Main Street Tax Certainty Act. They need to make the 20% Small Business Deduction permanent. They know that if Congress doesn’t act, it’s going to mean higher taxes and a much more difficult environment for them.”
Watch Close’s full remarks here.
California Small Business Owner Beth Booth, owner of Spaces Renewed in San Diego, said:
“With record high inflation, fuel, energy, food costs, and interest rates, middle class families like mine are suffering. My employee’s families are suffering. When you think of small business, I’m asking you to think of me. I am the mom of 5 little kids. I work full time to provide food for them and put food on their table. And every dollar I spend on a tax burden is a dollar I don’t get to invest in my people, my community, and in my business. We are asking Congress to act…..and don’t commit to the climate of uncertainty. We are asking you to step up, support the middle class, and make these tax cuts permanent.”
Watch Booth’s full remarks here.
Nebraska Small Business Owner Candice Price, co-owner of Home Team Auto Sales, said:
“Small Businesses like ours are the foundation of the American economy. The 20% Small Business Deduction has enabled us to be able to grow our business…expand, buy equipment, and now it is enabling us to hire. If this Deduction goes away, and prices continue to climb, it can literally be the difference between a small business staying open or closing its doors forever. Congress has already given the permanent tax relief to big businesses; they must do the same for the 30 million small businesses in America.”
Watch Price’s full remarks here.
West Virginia Small Business Owner Michael Ervin, owner of Coal River Coffee Company, said:
“For us, community is at the heart of everything we do. We’ve taken the tax savings from the [small business deduction] and put them right back into the community. We’ve reinvested in the coffee shop, we’ve hired more staff, we’ve opened other small businesses as well. But without Congressional action, the deduction will expire, and we will be hit with a massive tax hike. This will have drastic problems for not only my business, but all of Main Street across America.”
Watch Ervin’s full remarks here.
Massachusetts Small Business Owner Neil Abramson, owner of consignment stores across New England, said:
“The Small Business Deduction has allowed us to invest in our team, allowed us to invest in our infrastructure, and allowed us to invest in growing our business…It’s time for Congress to say, ‘It’s not about Wall Street, it’s about Main Street.’ You hear it during the election cycle [but] Congress can show us that by passing the Main Street Tax Certainty Act. They need to show us that we are more than a Saturday in November.”
Watch Abramson’s full remarks here.
