SMALL BUSINESS TAX ISSUES
Tax Cut Permanence
In December 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law, resulting in major beneficial changes for businesses. Included in the provisions were substantial reductions in the corporate and pass-through tax rates, a doubling of the estate tax exemption threshold, and full immediate expensing of HVAC equipment purchases for businesses. The issue here is that the individual-side provisions like the pass-through tax rate reduction and raised estate tax threshold have an expiration date and are set to sunset in 2025.
Since many HARDI members are
Relevant Legislation:
Main Street Certainty Act (H.R. 216)
Estate Tax Repeal
HARDI members believe the estate tax should be repealed because it disproportionately impacts small and family-owned businesses. Compliance costs associated with the estate tax and the substantial burden of the tax itself cause small businesses to forego the hiring of new employees, expansion of businesses, and in many cases, force the sale of the company.
HARDI supports the full and immediate repeal of the Estate Tax.
Relevant Legislation:
Death Tax Repeal Act (H.R. 218 and S. 215)
Maintaining LIFO
Many HARDI members use the Last In-First Out (LIFO) accounting method. This provision has been targeted as a source of revenue by lawmakers to pay for additional spending on various projects. If repealed, companies using LIFO would be forced to report their reserves as income, resulting in a massive incremental tax liability. Additionally, repealing LIFO would mean potentially higher future tax bills and would make it harder for companies to manage inflation.
HARDI participates in the LIFO Coalition to protect LIFO companies from a detrimental tax increase.
Qualified Improvement Property Fix
When Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December 2017 it contained a drafting error that would allow building improvements to be immediately expensed as was initially intended. Unfortunately, without this
The Restoring Investments in Improvements Act sponsored by U.S. Senators Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Doug Jones (D-AL) and Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) and Congresswoman Jackie Walorski (R-IN) would fix the drafting error in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. HARDI is seeking to add cosponsors to this legislation to help build support for making this