York and Lancaster small businesses back tax certainty push

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York & Lancaster small business tax certainty

Highlights

Rep. Smucker highlights the Main Street Tax Certainty Act's permanent Section 199A deduction as crucial for small businesses organized as pass-through entities to offset the 21% corporate tax rate.
Regional examples include a dairy farmer receiving about $75,000 annually from the small business deduction and Crescent Industries saving over $380,000, both reinvesting tax relief into equipment and operations.
Despite tax policy benefits, York and Lancaster employers face ongoing skilled labor shortages, prompting calls for expanded workforce development and training initiatives.

Tax policy and business planning

As outlined by the House Committee on Ways and Means, Smucker ties his small-business agenda to his own experience building a drywall company in Lancaster County into an employer with more than 150 workers over 25 years. He says that background shapes his support for measures aimed at giving smaller firms more certainty in the tax code.

Smucker says the Main Street Tax Certainty Act, which he introduced and which was signed into law last year, makes the Section 199A small business deduction permanent. He argues the provision is important because many smaller firms are organized as pass-through entities, with income taxed on owners' personal returns rather than at the corporate level, and says the deduction helps offset the advantage of the 21% corporate tax rate available to larger companies.

He says removing uncertainty over the deduction allows owners to plan and invest with more confidence. Smucker also backs immediate expensing for manufacturing capital investments, saying it can help companies upgrade equipment, remain competitive and support jobs in the region.

Regional impact on farms, factories and hiring

To illustrate the effect of tax policy, Smucker points to Marci and Wendy Bittner, who run a small construction business in Spring Grove and used tax relief to replace an aging company vehicle. He also cites a dairy farmer in Manor Township whose family operation milks about 200 cows and receives roughly $75,000 a year from the small business deduction, support he says helps sustain the farm and improve the odds of passing it to the next generation.

In manufacturing, Smucker says Eric Paules of Crescent Industries in New Freedom told him the deduction has saved the company more than $380,000 over several years. According to Smucker, those savings were reinvested into equipment, wage increases and the redevelopment of a long-vacant building into a modern facility that now supports additional local businesses.

Smucker says the broader challenge for the region is not only tax policy but labor supply. He says employers across York and Lancaster counties continue to face difficulty finding skilled and reliable workers, and argues for stronger workforce development, expanded training opportunities and policies that help more people reenter the labor market.

In our earlier coverage of House Republicans’ response to the April jobs report, we explained how the latest labor-market figures were used to argue that pro-growth tax policy is supporting hiring, wages, and small business activity. The piece highlighted claims that making the 20% small-business deduction permanent—along with measures like 100% immediate expensing—could boost investment and help sustain job creation.

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