Small Business, Big Impact

During the first week of May, we celebrate Small Business Week. This time of year, the impact that small businesses have in our communities is especially evident. We might notice the Little League team has the name of its local business sponsor on the back of its jerseys. High schoolers might be applying for summer jobs at a restaurant on Main Street. And a little outside of town, we can see planting season is underway on family farms across South Dakota. Small businesses aren’t just a big part of our economy, they’re also pillars of our communities. Nearly half of private sector jobs in America are at small businesses, and most of our nation’s job growth comes from smaller enterprises. And one of my top priorities is strengthening our small businesses, farms, and ranches so they can continue to be engines of growth and opportunity in our country. That’s exactly what Republicans did last year with the Working Families Tax Cuts. In addition to permanent tax relief for hardworking South Dakotans, this bill included permanent, pro-growth tax policy to help South Dakota small businesses, farms, and ranches. It made permanent the lower small business tax rates that Republicans enacted in 2017. It also made permanent full expensing for new equipment, which allows small businesses to deduct the full cost of a new piece of equipment the year they start using it, which makes it a lot easier for a farmer to buy a new tractor or a factory to get a new machine online. This bill also made permanent the 199A small business deduction, which enables South Dakota small businesses to reduce their tax burden and free up money to invest in their operations and their employees. In fact, one agricultural cooperative in our state estimates the impact of this deduction at over $100 million since it was first enacted in 2017, and another South Dakota business credits it with allowing them to build a large addition and hire additional employees. Here in South Dakota, a lot of our small businesses are also family businesses, and the Working Families Tax Cuts helps ensure more of these enterprises stay in the family for generations to come. I’m proud to have worked to increase the exemption threshold for the death tax in this bill, which protects a lot more family businesses, farms, and ranches from a possibly devastating tax bill when they pass the business on to the next generation, not to mention the costly estate planning expenses that many families incur because of this unfair tax. As much as this bill helps their businesses, when I talk to small business owners in South Dakota, they are often most excited about what the Working Families Tax Cuts does for their employees and customers. This bill puts more money in their customers’ pockets, and policies like no tax on tips and no tax on overtime deliver significant tax savings for their employees. Like a lot of South Dakotans, I got my start working at a small business when I was in high school, taking shifts at the Star Family Restaurant in Murdo. I know there’s nothing small about the impact these businesses have in their communities, and I’m proud to be working to strengthen our small businesses so they can continue to be engines for the American Dream.