The Tennessean today published a guest column by small business owner Benjamin Neale, owner of Light Hill Meats and Light Hill Butcher Shop in Spring Hill, that explains how the new permanent small business tax cut has helped his family-run businesses grow and plan for the future.

Neale says “Christmas came early this year” for small businesses like his after Congress voted to make the deduction permanent. He calls the tax relief “the kind of Christmas gift that benefits not only us, but everyone in Tennessee.”

Neale, a NFIB small business member, says the 20% Small Business Deduction has been key to helping his family business stay competitive. “Since 2017, this tax cut has enabled us to deduct 20% of our business income,” he writes. “In layman’s terms, it keeps our small business competitive with the big corporations that already pay a lower tax rate. The same is true for thousands of small businesses across Tennessee.”

The deduction originally was set to expire at the end of the year. “I was dreading it because our federal tax bill was set to explode once the relief disappeared,” he writes. “It would have been the death of our plans to grow the businesses and give back. By making the tax cut permanent, the President and Congress have given us the green light to move forward.”

Neale says the permanent tax deduction gives them the confidence to expand, create jobs, and invest in new equipment.

NFIB State Director Jim Brown said Neale’s story shows how important tax relief is for local businesses. “When small businesses can keep more of what they earn, they hire more workers, expand, and support their communities,” Brown said.

“Benjamin’s story is a great example of how tax relief helps small businesses succeed.”

Here is Neale’s column:

For small businesses like mine, Christmas came early this year.

That’s all I can think of as the holidays approach. My wife and I have started two small businesses in the past 15 years—a farm and meat processor and a butcher shop, both right here in Tennessee. It’s been a tough slog, but we’ve been able to make it work thanks to the tax cut President Trump gave us in 2017. This year, he went even further by saving us from a huge tax hike and making that original tax cut permanent. It’s the kind of Christmas gift that benefits not only us, but everyone in Tennessee.

President Trump’s tax cut kept my small business competitive

The President and Congress gave us this permanent tax cut in the big legislation they passed in July. The central piece of that law, from my perspective, is called the “Small Business Deduction.” Since 2017, this tax cut has enabled us to deduct 20% of our business income. In layman’s terms, it keeps our small business competitive with the big corporations that already pay a lower tax rate. The same is true for thousands of small businesses across Tennessee.

But that tax cut was going to expire on December 31. I was dreading it because our federal tax bill was set to explode once the relief disappeared. It would have been the death of our plans to grow the businesses and give back. By making the tax cut permanent, the President and Congress have given us the green light to move forward.

To understand what we’re now able to do, consider what we did after the Small Business Deduction was initially passed. We started our farm in 2011, and in 2017, we expanded it to include a meat processing unit. We bought an older processing business in our hometown of Lynnville. We had to upgrade virtually all the equipment, some of which had been in use since the 1970s.

Buying new meat processing equipment isn’t cheap. But then we got our tax cut, and suddenly we had the savings we needed to become competitive and stay ahead of bigger companies. Since then, we’ve more than tripled the number of cattle we can process a week. We’ve also doubled the size of our team, from four to eight people, and we’ve been able to give bigger raises than we expected. The tax cut made it all possible.

The permanent tax cut led to more jobs and stronger communities

Even better, the tax cut helped us start another small business in 2022 — our butcher shop in Spring Hill. It proved to be a big hit, so my wife and I drew up plans to open new stores in other communities. But we haven’t pulled the trigger because we were waiting to see if our tax cut disappeared. Had our taxes gone up at the end of this year, we wouldn’t have had the money to expand across the state.

Now we do have the money, thanks to President Trump and Congress. We’re planning to open multiple new butcher shops within a year or two. In other words, that permanent tax cut has enabled us to create new jobs and build stronger communities.

It’s the gift that keeps on giving — to entrepreneurs and Tennesseans alike

Everyone in Tennessee is benefiting from this tax cut because everyone relies on small businesses in one way or another. So, in a sense, President Trump and Congress gave everyone an early Christmas gift. Our economy is stronger thanks to their leadership. Our communities are more vibrant because they stopped a tax hike and gave us permanent tax relief.  At the end of the day, this tax cut is the gift that will keep on giving—for small businesses like ours, our workers and all of Tennessee.