Main Street Badly Needs the Small Business Deduction to Survive

August 18, 2023 Last Edit: March 19, 2026

Main Street Badly Needs the Small Business Deduction to Survive

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ronda Wiggers, Montana State Director, rondakwiggers@gmail.com or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, anthony.malandra@nfib.org HELENA, Mont., Aug. 18, 2023—The nation’s most authoritative voice on small business issues has put on its Montana webpage a 419-word guest editorial on the most significant Congressional proposal in six years. The media are invited and encouraged to use it as free content for their publications and websites. It has a huge Montana angle and affects almost all of the people who gave us our first jobs. “It heartens me deeply that a Montanan is leading the charge for the most significant piece of legislation in the country,” said Ronda Wiggers, Montana state director for the National Federation of Independent (NFIB), the nation’s voice of small business. “It would make me even prouder if his fellow U.S. senator announced his support for the Main Street Tax Certainty Act. It would hold Montana up high as state second to none in supporting its small businesses.” Excerpts from the editorial, authored by Wiggers:

“Before the pandemic, we benefitted from two years of unprecedented economic opportunity and optimism, and the credit goes to the 2017 creation of the Small Business Deduction (Section 199A), which allows small businesses organized as pass-through entities (sole proprietorships, S-corporations, partnerships, or LLCs) to deduct up to 20% of their qualified business income on their 1040 IRS form.

“Tens of thousands of Montana small businesses have benefitted from this common-sense policy. There’s a good chance you know someone who got a bonus because of the Small Business Deduction, or someone who got hired because a small business was able to expand. And while the pandemic and government shutdowns stifled a lot of this progress, the Small Business Deduction helped a lot of Main Street job-creators survive the past three years.

“Now, the Small Business Deduction is about to expire, putting tremendous pressure on Main Street. That’s bad enough on its own, but it’s made even worse by the fact that Wall Street’s tax cuts are still permanent. Only in Washington does it make sense to put big business ahead of small business.”

For more information, check out NFIB President Brad Close’s interview on KGVO-AM in Missoula. Listen to the interview here. “If Congress takes no action, the 20% Small Business Deduction will expire in 2025, imposing a massive tax hike on a majority of America’s small businesses,” he said. “While Members of Congress are back in their states and districts in August, small business owners want them to understand the importance of making the 20% Small Business Deduction permanent.” In a recent NFIB member ballot, 91% of NFIB members said they supported permanently extending the expiring provisions of the 2017 tax law. Learn more at www.SmallBizDeduction.com. Keep up with the latest on Montana small business at www.nfib.com/MT. ### 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 a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven association. Since its 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 Montana 406-899-9659 rondakwiggers@gmail.com www.nfib.com/montana Twitter: @NFIB_MT

Topics:

Taxes

State:

Montana

Get to know NFIB

NFIB is a member-driven organization advocating on behalf of small and independent businesses nationwide.

Learn More

Open office scene with two workers at desks and large computer monitors, a man stands by a kitchen railing in the background.

July 15, 2026

State Policies Impacting Small Businesses

States considered small business measures during the 2026 legislative sessions, including taxes, minimum wage, extreme heat standards, IRC conformity, and tort…