ICYMI: Small Business Owner Alison Couch Testifies Before U.S. House Ways & Means Committee
ICYMI: Small Business Owner Alison Couch Testifies Before U.S. House Ways & Means Committee
January 17, 2025
NFIB Member spoke on the importance of the 20% Small Business Deduction for Main Street businesses
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 17, 2025) – Alison Couch, Georgia Small Business Owner and member of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) testified before the U.S. House Committee on Ways & Means at a hearing titled, “Hearing on The Need to Make Permanent the Trump Tax Cuts for Working Families.” Couch spoke on why it’s critical for Congress to make the 20% Small Business Deduction (Section 199A) permanent. Couch also answered questions from Members of the Committee about how Section 199A has been the single most beneficial tax deduction for small business owners and their communities.
Couch testified:
“In my April 2023 testimony, I underscored the need for Congress to act to preserve the 20% Small Business Deduction. In that testimony, I stated that the tax burden on small businesses was already incredibly heavy and allowing this deduction to lapse when it has been in place for many years would not feel like a sunset, but like a tax increase. Today, with this section of the tax code set to expire in less than one year, this remains true, and I urge Congress to act swiftly to renew it. The small businesses that I work with have become dependent on having access to those funds, and they need the certainty provided by making the 20% Small Business deduction permanent.”
During Rep. David Kustoff’s (TN-08) line of questioning, he asked Couch how important Section 199A has been to small business owners in terms of being able to hire employees and to provide their wages and benefits. Couch answered:
“199A has provided tax relief to free up cash flow that’s been reinvested in small business by the owners. And as I mentioned in my testimony that small business owners’ income is different from business income. The owners take profits and invest them back into their businesses and that’s done by way of raises and hiring additional employees. They also use that money to invest in software purchases and things of that nature. But they also give money to the T-ball teams, they sponsor youth trips, they really invest it back into their communities as well. And that’s something that we can’t ignore and that I’m afraid would be some of the first things to be cut if that deduction expired.”
During Rep. Greg Steube’s (FL-17) line of questioning, he asked Couch to expand on her perspective as a small business owner who services other small businesses to provide a look into how Section 199A has a real-world impact on employees and customers. Couch answered:
“My typical client earns gross revenue under $3 million a year, employees, 10 or less employees. So, we’re talking about coffee shops, we’re talking about ice cream shops, restaurants, professional service business owners, the real heartbeat of the American economy. And I have seen 199A have the greatest impact on that segment of business owners more so than any other form of tax relief in my 21 years in practice. So, it frees up cash flow to reinvest in employees, to reinvest in equipment and software. And as mentioned earlier, I think that it really provides a little bit of cash flow to give back to the community.”
Rep. Steube further asked how small businesses would respond if Section 199A were allowed to expire. Couch answered:
“If 199A expires, it will feel like a tax increase on small business owners instead of a sunset of a tax deduction. And so, what you will see as a result of that is the inability to provide raises, the inability to invest in new equipment, the inability to really R&D and different things of that nature that is so crucial when you own a small business. And quite frankly, I think that it will cost some small business owners their businesses. I think it is that impactful.”
Read Couch’s full testimony here. Watch her opening remarks and line of questioning here.
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For 80 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses, and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
NFIB is a member-driven organization advocating on behalf of small and independent businesses nationwide.
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