GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Over the past year, small business owners have been hampered by the pandemic and related shutdowns. Now there is a push from lawmakers to give them some long-term financial relief, in the form of permanent tax breaks.
“I'm a strong advocate of making a level playing field for small and medium sized businesses and doing everything that we can in order to ensure that as we reopen from COVID, our economy and especially our small businesses or restaurants, all of those businesses that have been most hardly hit are primed to rebound, to rehire and to reopen,” U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Grand Rapids) said.
The Main Street Tax Certainty Act reintroduced in Congress this year, would make a 20% tax deduction for pass-through small businesses, permanent.
It was originally put into law with Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, but it’s set to expire in just a few years.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says making it permanent would provide long-term stability for small business owner to “plan, invest and grow.”
"Despite the important role these employers play in our economy, they face tremendous uncertainty as the §199A deduction is scheduled to expire," USCC CEO Suzanne Clarke said in a letter to lawmakers.
“The pass-through small business tax deduction has been helpful to us in managing expenses over the past few years and we've definitely appreciated it even more so last year during 2020 with some of the uncertainty that we were facing,” Adam Russo told FOX 17.
Russo is the owner of COM 616, a Grand Rapids-based public relations firm.
“I think anything that helps small businesses and small business owners, manage expenses keep expenses down and keep more resources our local community is very helpful,” Russo added.
An investment he believes would help the local business community thrive coming out of such an uncertain time.
“The small business community is the backbone of any local economy. Employees are members. It provides the support and some of the infrastructure that a thriving community needs.”
