At 2009 pages, the political world has a lot to say today on the federal budget deal posted online in the wee hours of the morning, and one provision in particular has Arizona small-business owners hoping Congress seals the deal on Friday and President Obama signs it.
The part of the bipartisan agreement making up to $500,000 of Section 179 expensing permanent, instead of year to year, has been a long-time lobbying goal of the National Federation of Independent Business, America’s largest and leading small-business association. When the Bush tax cuts expired, the amount that small firms could expense dropped down to $25,000 and expired every year, unless Congress extended it.
“Arizona small businesses not only wholeheartedly support the passage of the new permanent and indexed federal expensing provisions, we will make full conformity of our state’s tax code to the new Section 179 standard a top priority during the upcoming legislative session,” said Farrell Quinlan, NFIB’s Arizona state director.
“This is easily the most positive thing Congress has done for small business in the past several years, and it will ripple through the economy in the form of new investments and more jobs,” said NFIB President and CEO Dan Danner. “The tax benefit encourages businesses to make big investments and the permanency creates predictability. Our research predicts that we’ll see hundreds of thousands of new jobs as a result.”
Under the Section 179 provision, businesses can expense up to $500,000 of new investment in heavy machinery, office equipment, computer technology or many other big-ticket items that they need. Small business expensing has been a feature of the tax code for decades as a way to encourage investment and growth. The tax package, which is expected to receive action tomorrow in the House and possibly in the Senate on Friday, will be a key vote for NFIB in the House and Senate.
