NEMRA Advocacy Update – Joint Trades Letter

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Joint Trades Letter Regarding Budget

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The budget released on March 9th continues the Biden administration’s attack on individually- and family-owned businesses and should be strongly opposed by Congress. The more than $4 trillion in tax hikes it proposes target businesses responsible for most of the jobs and growth in this country and come at a time when federal tax collections are at record levels. 

The President claims his budget will only go after “super-wealthy” tax cheats, but it targets over one million small and family-owned businesses. It would hurt their ability to hire new employees, offer better benefits, and invest in the equipment and technology necessary to sustain their businesses and help them grow. The President might claim his tax proposals close loopholes, but America’s small and family-owned businesses are not a loophole. 

The huge deficits forecast in the President’s budget are not the result of a revenue shortage. The Congressional Budget Office reports that federal tax collections were nearly $5 trillion last year, a record high and a 47-percent increase from when the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was enacted in 2017. Taxes paid by individuals and pass-through businesses reached a record $2.6 trillion last year and represented their largest share of total taxes paid in any year since the TCJA. 

Despite this, the President’s budget would raise the top rates paid by pass-through businesses and corporations alike, increase the Net Investment Income Tax and expand it to cover the active business income of pass-through business owners, make permanent the harmful loss limitation rules, make it harder for family-owned businesses to survive from one generation to the next by gutting the existing grantor trust rules, nearly double the tax rate on capital gains, and impose a new minimum tax on larger family businesses that appears to redefine how income is measured. The combination of these policies would raise top tax rates on these businesses to close to 50 percent, both on their operating profits and on any gain when they sell the company. 

These policies should not be considered in a vacuum. Layered on top of past proposals put forward by the President, the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and the Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee, they would raise top marginal tax rates on small and family-owned businesses from today’s 29.6 percent to a staggering 57 percent. Add in state taxes and most businesses would face rates exceeding 60 percent. Businesses in California would face rates of over 70 percent. 

Our members already face a massive tax increase when the small and family-owned business deduction, the lower individual rates, and other individual provisions expire beginning in 2026. The tax hikes proposed in today’s budget release would come on top of these pending tax increases, adding to the threat our members face. 

Instead of seeking ever higher taxes from the pass-through business sector, the Administration should work with Congress to make the small and family-owned business deduction permanent and provide these business owners with some certainty following three years of COVID, slow growth, high inflation, and supply-chain disruptions. 

The undersigned trade groups, together with the millions of businesses and workers they represent, ask you to stand with Main Street and strongly oppose raising taxes on individually-and family-owned businesses. 

Sincerely,

National Electrical Manufacturers Representatives Association (NEMRA)

AAHOA -Asian American Hotel Owners Association 

AICC, The Independent Packaging Association 

Air Conditioning Contractors of America 

American Building Materials Alliance 

American Farm Bureau Federation® 

American Foundry Society 

American Hotel & Lodging Association 

American Pipeline Contractors Association 

American Subcontractors Association 

Associated Builders and Contractors 

Associated Equipment Distributors 

Associated General Contractors of America 

Construction Industry Round Table 

Education Market Association 

Family Business Coalition 

Foodservice Equipment Distributors Association 

Forest Resources Association

FPDA – Motion Control Solution Network 

Glass Packaging Institute 

Global Cold Chain Alliance 

Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association 

Heating, Air-conditioning, & Refrigeration Distributors International 

Independent Bakers Association 

Independent Community Bankers of America 

Independent Electrical Contractors 

Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America 

Industrial Fasteners Institute 

International Foodservice Distributors Association 

International Sign Association 

International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA) 

ISD – International Sealing Distribution Association 

Main Street Employers Coalition 

Manufactured Housing Institute 

Manufacturer & Business Association 

Metals Service Center Institute 

Mortgage Bankers Association 

National Association of Electrical Distributors

National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors

National Association of Professional Insurance Agents

National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association

National Electrical Contractors Association

National Federation of Independent Business

National Grocers Association

National Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association

National Marine Distributors Association

National Newspaper Association

National Pork Producers Council

National Ready Mixed Concrete Association

National Restaurant Association

National Roofing Contractors Association

National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association

National Utility Contractors Association

National Wooden Pallet & Container Association

North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM)

Outdoor Power Equipment and Engine Service Association

Pet Industry Distributors Association

Policy and Taxation Group

Power and Communication Contractors Association

Reserve Organization of America (ROA)

S Corporation Association

Service Station Dealers of America and Allied Trades (SSDA-AT)

SHDA – Security Hardware Distributors Association

Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council

Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS)

Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA)

Subchapter S Bank Association

Textile Care Allied Trades Association

The Hardwood Federation

Tire Industry Association (TIA)

Water and Sewer Distributors of America

Wood Machinery Manufacturers of America

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