Family Businesses Get Down to Work as New Year Offers Optimism, Skepticism, and Hope for a Strong 2025

A New Year is typically a time for reflection and goal setting, but this year seems to be shaping up as one of getting down to business, and alleviating worry, especially when it comes to tax and economic policies.

The new administration and Congress are tasked right now with crafting complex tax legislation, cutting costs, managing debt, and keeping the economy strong. This is no easy feat.

Recently, I spoke with several of staff members and leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee “Tax Teams .” I asked them what their first one hundred days looked like, specifically when it comes to tax legislation, an issue on every family business leader’s mind.

I spoke with senior staff members (the people who do the nitty-gritty tax writing work) for Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fl), Chair of the “American Manufacturing” Tax Team , Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL), Chair of the “American Workforce” Tax Team , Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), Chair of the “Community Development” Tax Team , Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Neb), Chair of “Rural America” Tax Team , and Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), Chair of the “Main Street” Tax Team , among others.

Their messages, and priorities, were clear: “we need a tax code to help family businesses operate with certainty and permanency.”

This was good to hear, considering the specific issues that came up focused on items like the extension of the 199A and restoring R&D expensing. All are on board, it seems now, with keeping these provisions. More importantly, they want to make them permanent.

It should be noted many of these staff members emphasized the fact that the U.S. is only one of a few countries that does not allow R&D expensing, and this has caused a R&D drought among all businesses, including family businesses looking to invest more in the future.

Stability in the tax code is the most important factor they are weighing, but they also understand keenly that by extending much of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) the country runs the risk of increasing the national debt by over $4 trillion.

This is an unenviable balancing act we will be watching closely.

One key issue is education, that is, educating new and old Congress members on the importance of family businesses to the U.S. economy. This is what we do at Family Enterprise USA.

Another big challenge is only a small number of the new Congress members were in office in 2017, when the TCJA was passed.

We need to educate these new members fast, not only on the helpful provisions in TCJA, but on the size and scope of family businesses in general.

If you don’t know, according to research, America’s multi-generational family-owned businesses contribute $7.7 trillion annually to the U.S. gross domestic product. Family businesses are the largest private employers in the country, accounting for 83.3 million jobs, or 59 percent of the country’s private workforce, the research shows.

In our first 100 days, this is the message we will getting out, especially during the year’s first Congressional Family Business Caucus meeting on March 11, on Capitol Hill.

Women-Owned Family Businesses

This year, another message we want to relay to Congress is the strength of women-owned family businesses , and the special challenges they face.

The theme of the March 11 Caucus meeting is women-owned family businesses . We are inviting top women business leaders to address Caucus members. These include such leaders as Debbie McKee of Little Debbie Cakes, Cheryl Osborn of Casco Contractors, and Bridget Herdman of Herdman Architecture + Design.

The Congressional Family Business Caucus is a bipartisan, educational Caucus intended to bring awareness to the issues facing family businesses. The Caucus last year was co-chaired by Representatives Jodey Arrington (R-TX), Brad Schneider (D-Ill), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), and Henry Cuellar (D-TX), and has approximately 50 members.

In addition, Family Enterprise USA has formed the new Women’s Business Owners Group , a coalition dedicated to addressing the challenges women-owned businesses face.

The Women’s Business Owners Group’s (The Group) mission is to “amplify the voices of women entrepreneurs, foster collaboration, and advocate for policies that promote business.”

Women-owned businesses represent nearly 40 percent of all U.S. businesses, or over 14 million businesses in total, and account for $2.7 trillion in revenue, according to Wells Fargo Bank’s 2024 “Impact of Women-Owned Business Report.”

Women-owned businesses employ over 12.2 million employees nationwide. Notably, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, women-owned businesses added 1.4 million jobs to the U.S. economy, according to the Wells Fargo research.

The Group will engage directly with members of Congress, including members of the Congressional Family Business Caucus. Topics will include women’s labor force participation, tax and economic issues, and community involvement.

The goal here is to also educate our lawmakers on the importance of women-owned businesses and to discuss these businesses in the context of broader family-owned business issues Now more than ever, women-owned businesses deserve a seat at the policymaking table.

It should be noted that women-owned businesses are found across a wide cross section of industries, including healthcare, professional services, retail, real estate, manufacturing, food, construction industries government contracting, technology and many more.

Congressional Family Business Caucus Meets March 11

The first Congressional Family Business Caucus Meeting of 2025 will be held March 11 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

You can attend by registering Here.

It’s going to be an exciting event and starts on March 11 at 8AM with a Breakfast Caucus meeting.

After the official Caucus there will be a “Legislative State of Play Update” on legislation impacting family businesses, family offices, and successful individuals by our political and tax insiders from Brownstein and Squire Patton Boggs.

Later, there is a session on “Insights and Messaging” with Dr. Frank Luntz, the well-known communications and political strategic consultant. The day continues with visits to Capitol Hill and meetings with Members of Congress and staff to discuss critical issues affecting family businesses

We look forward to seeing you at this first Congressional Family Business Caucus meeting on March 11, and again you can register by clicking Here .

See you there.

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