Montana small-business owner touts restoration, permanence of 2017 tax laws

Robert Majerus

Tax breaks and job reforms from President Donald Trump's first term helped jump-start and strengthen rural businesses, but many of those provisions already have expired or will end in 2025 unless Congress acts soon, writes Robert Majerus in his opinion for InsideSources. "Many of the 2017 tax law’s most essential cuts and deductions run out at the end of the year, and others already need to be restored."

Provisions that already have been phased out and need restoration include the "20% qualified business income deduction, which many small businesses have benefited from, as well as the immediate expensing of research and development and equipment," Majerus explains. "For farmers, the ability to expense these investments in the same year that they are made and brought online makes a huge difference, supporting innovation in the agricultural economy."

One of the most important changes the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made was to reduce the "corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, bringing the tax burden on U.S. businesses more in line with other countries," Majerus points out. "The TCJA provided more incentives for many small businesses to restructure themselves as C-corporations to take advantage of the lower tax rates."

To maintain profits and support continued small business growth, it is "critical for lawmakers to avoid calls to increase the corporate tax rate to help pay for the much-needed extensions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s economy-growing tax cuts," Majerus explains. "Reverting to a high corporate tax rate would be akin to raising taxes on Main Street and rural businesses that struggle to keep their doors open after years of high inflation."

Part of President Trump's presidential campaign included promises to "revitalize middle America," Majerus writes. "Now, these small businesses and communities that were helped in 2017 are the ones that will see the most gains wiped out if these tax cuts are not extended and made permanent."

The House has passed its support for reinstating and extending TCJA provisions. Majerus adds, "It’s time for the Senate to move forward while acknowledging the time limit businesses have before these expiring tax cuts go into effect at the end of the year. Time is short."

Robert Majerus is a member of the Community Business Alliance and a small-business owner in Montana.