When President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into law in July 2025, small businesses across America finally caught a tailwind. The new law restored 100 percent expensing for plants and equipment under Section 168(k), expanded Section 179 expensing to $1.5 million, and extended the 20 percent pass-through deduction under Section 199A for millions of S corporations, partnerships, and LLCs.

For small firms, these reforms aren’t just tax cuts, they are growth catalysts. The question now is whether Congress will make them permanent, ensuring that small businesses can plan, invest, and hire with confidence for the next decade. The answer must be yes. Permanence is not a gift; it’s the foundation of sustained economic growth.

Small businesses are companies with fewer than 500 employees and under $8 million to $47 million, depending upon the sector. These companies are not just the backbone of the American economy, they are its circulatory system. They employ 46 percent of the U.S. workforce, create two of every three new private-sector jobs, and generate roughly 44 percent of GDP. Yet for decades, the tax code tilted toward large corporations while leaving small enterprises shouldering disproportionate costs and uncertainty.

The OBBBA reversed that imbalance. By reviving full expensing and modernizing deductions, it gave small businesses more of a chance to invest in productivity, modern equipment, and workforce development. But if these measures are allowed to expire in 2032, the momentum will stall; poor timing, if this measure helps a long-awaited small-business boom to gain strength.

Under Section 168(k), firms can now immediately deduct 100 percent of the cost of qualified machinery, equipment, and plant improvements. For manufacturers, logistics operators, construction firms, and service providers, that is transformational. Instead of waiting years to recover costs through depreciation, they can reinvest those savings immediately into new technology, higher wages, and job training.

Predictability matters as much as policy. Temporary tax incentives invite hesitation. When the rules shift every few years, small firms delay or cancel capital investments. Section 179 now allows immediate deduction of up to $1.5 million in qualified equipment and software purchases, indexed for inflation. That certainty gives business owners the confidence to modernize operations, expand capacity, and bring new workers on board. Every dollar reinvested in productive assets multiplies across supply chains, strengthening local economies and the families they sustain.

Small-business leaders consistently point to the same principle: a predictable, growth-oriented tax environment is essential for survival. When firms are forced to navigate uncertainty whether from shifting depreciation schedules, expiring deductions, or fluctuating interest rates growth slows and hiring stalls. Conversely, when tax policy is stable, small enterprises are more likely to invest in modernization and workforce expansion. Those investments ripple outward, fueling productivity and local prosperity.

The evidence is compelling. After similar expensing and deduction provisions were enacted in 2017, the U.S. economy grew 2.9 percent in 2018, and unemployment fell to 3.5 percent, the lowest in 50 years. Small businesses generated 65.9 percent of the new jobs created. Following the passage of the OBBBA in July 2025, U.S. capital-goods orders have already surged 8 percent. The Tax Foundation projects that making the OBBBA’s provisions permanent could lift long-term GDP growth by 1.2 percent and add nearly 938,000 jobs nationwide. Based on Small Business Administration historical averages, small businesses would generate 610,000 or 65 percent of these new jobs.

Temporary incentives create short bursts of activity. Permanent reforms create long-term prosperity. When small-business owners know that the rules will not change, they invest for the long haul by expanding facilities, hiring apprentices, and raising wages. As Rethinking Economic Growth argues, “A permanent, predictable, reliable tax structure ought to be friendly to small business. It should aim to ignite a sustained small-business boom.”

The benefits extend far beyond individual enterprises. Across industries, the small-business multiplier effect drives local economic vitality. Each investment in equipment, logistics, or plant capacity sends revenue through nearby suppliers, contractors, and service providers supporting jobs in communities nationwide. When small firms reinvest, they sustain the very ecosystems that sustain them. That virtuous cycle is the cornerstone of broad-based, inclusive economic growth.

Moreover, these provisions strengthen America’s competitive position. In a global economy where capital moves quickly, a stable, pro-investment tax code signals that the United States is open for business. Permanence gives small firms the confidence to expand domestically rather than move production abroad. It encourages long-term commitments to workforce development, innovation, and local reinvestment all of which reinforce America’s industrial base.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act demonstrated that tax reform can unite policymakers around a single objective: growth. Now, Congress must finish the job by making these reforms permanent. That means locking in:

• Section 168(k): 100 percent bonus depreciation for plants and equipment.
• Section 179: Immediate expensing up to $2.5 million.
• Section 199A: The 20 percent pass-through deduction for small-business owners.
• R&D and workforce training credits: To spur innovation and strengthen the talent pipeline.

These are not giveaways. They are growth multipliers. They reward the entrepreneurs who create jobs, train workers, and fuel the local economies that form the bedrock of national prosperity.

Small businesses are key to sustained economic health and long-term growth. The OBBBA gave them the tools to lead America’s next economic chapter. Making those provisions permanent would secure a decade of expansion, rising wages, and renewed confidence in the American Dream.