LITTLE ROCK (Oct. 2, 2025) – In an op-ed for the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, NFIB State Director Katie Burns urges Congress to repeal the Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).

In the op-ed, Burns writes:

“For years, House Financial Services Chairman French Hill has fought against the Corporate Transparency Act, including co-sponsoring legislation to repeal the law. Small businesses need Chairman Hill and the entire Arkansas Congressional delegation to deliver real regulatory relief for the more than 32 million small-business owners who once again could be required to file their sensitive information to a federal database. Last month, FinCEN announced it will destroy the unconstitutionally collected BOI data of America’s small businesses, just hours after lawmakers sent a letter urging them to do so. Congress must finish the job and repeal the CTA.”

CLICK HERE to read the full op-ed. Excerpts are below:

Save Main Street

Arkansas Democrat Gazette

By: Katie Burns

October 2, 2025

President Trump and Congress recently delivered a major victory to small-business owners, with the passage and signature of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. […] But Main Street needs more than a permanent tax cut; it needs permanent regulatory relief.

Back in 2021, Congress imposed one of the most heavy-handed and invasive mandates on small businesses–and you’ve probably never heard of it. It’s called The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), a misnomer, which includes a costly mandate called the Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) Reporting Requirement.

[…] The CTA creates a new database with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the law enforcement arm of the Treasury Department. But only small businesses with 20 or fewer employees and $5 million or less in sales are required to file their BOI. That means they must submit personally identifiable information, including copies of a government ID, to this database or face extreme civil and criminal penalties of up to two years in federal prison and up to $10,000 in fines.

Not only is this an egregious burden on our small-business owners, but the CTA was so poorly written and loosely defined that FinCEN expanded reporting to include individuals with “substantial control” of a business. Not individuals who own the business themselves, but employees or managers who make day-to-day decisions. […]

The new database sidesteps important legal protections and can be accessed by local, state, federal, and international intelligence agencies and law enforcement without a subpoena or warrant. […]

Here in Arkansas, we believe in the rule of law. We also believe in common sense. The vast majority of small-business owners are law-abiding citizens who want to create good-paying jobs and meet their customers’ needs. It’s absurd to think criminals will follow the law and file their BOI with FinCEN.

The CTA doesn’t pass the smell test. Before the CTA was signed into law, big banks regularly gathered this information from their small-business customers. But collecting that information came with a price tag–$1.5 billion over 10 years. So they convinced Congress to pass the buck to small businesses. […]

Main Street doesn’t belong in a federal database. And Main Street shouldn’t be left footing Wall Street’s bill.[…]

President Trump has correctly described BOI as an “economic menace” and an “outrageous and invasive” requirement. In March, the Treasury Department announced that U.S. small businesses are now exempt from the mandate. […]

For years, House Financial Services Chairman French Hill has fought against the Corporate Transparency Act, including co-sponsoring legislation to repeal the law. Small businesses need Chairman Hill and the entire Arkansas Congressional delegation to deliver real regulatory relief for the more than 32 million small-business owners who once again could be required to file their sensitive information to a federal database.

Last month, FinCEN announced it will destroy the unconstitutionally collected BOI data of America’s small businesses, just hours after lawmakers sent a letter urging them to do so.

Congress must finish the job and repeal the CTA.