NEWS | NSBA Shares Holiday Message for Small Business Community

Happy Holidays from the small-business advocates at the National Small Business Association - NSBA is privileged to be the voice for the nation's most important economic community, and we look forward to continuing our productive work with Congress and in Washington for 2026!

A MESSAGE FROM NSBA PRESDIENT AND CEO TODD McCRACKEN

Happy Holidays -

As we close out 2025, I want to thank you for your continued support of NSBA. It has been a very busy year with quite a bit of change, but we are looking forward to 2026 with a plan, a purpose, and progress in our sights. Your support and engagement has made possible one of the most impactful years in decades. 

In less than five months after our Small Business Congress where you, the members, voted on NSBA’s Priority Issues, we addressed our #1, #2 and #4 Priority Issues. This is major progress for NSBA. We made important steps forward on tax stability and predictability, we were able to stave off the Corporate Transparency Act, we were instrumental in ending the government shutdown, and a whole lot more.  

Tax Stability & Predictability 

On July 4, legislation was enacted to make permanent the 20 percent Qualified Business Income deduction for small-business owners; allow for immediate R&D expensing; increase the Estate tax exemption to $15 million, indexed for inflation; raise the bonus depreciation for new capital investments; and much more. 

Because of our efforts, your tax rates will NOT go up at the end of this year as they were scheduled to do, and you no longer have to look at your crystal ball every 5-7 years to see when these provisions expire – they are permanent. 

NSBA’s contributions to the enactment of these tax policies were formally recognized by the Speaker of the House. 

A Pause for the Corporate Transparency Act 

For years, NSBA has led the charge against the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) by filing the first national lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Treasury for this unconstitutional law.  We were successful in getting the Administration to agree NOT to enforce the rule on U.S. small businesses – another major accomplishment for NSBA’s members.  

Unfortunately, as was the case this time last year, a flurry of legal action has left the law in a bit of limbo:

Last week, NSBA’s lawsuit was dealt a blow in Treasury’s appeal to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals which ruled that Congress was within its power to enact the CTA. 

While this decision could make way for enforcement of CTA in the future, today, U.S. small business do NOT have to file any new beneficial owner reports thanks to Treasury currently opting NOT to enforce the CTA on U.S. businesses.  

Let me assure you: we know how problematic the CTA is, and this fight is far from over. 

End the Government Shutdown 

NSBA sounded alarms before and throughout the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history.

We cautioned lawmakers, engaged members and implored Democrats and Republicans alike to get back to doing the work of the American people.

When President Trump signed legislation that ended the shutdown, he called out NSBA by name and thanked us for our leadership. 

NSBA’s Work in 2025  |  By The Numbers: 

• Received five invitations to testify before Congress 

• Submitted 10 federal regulatory comments 

• Sent 14 letters to Congress and the administration 

• Was cited in 16 Federal Agency comments and responses 

• Staff attended dozens of meetings with policymakers 

• Lobbied on 30 pieces of legislation pending in Congress 

• NSBA was mentioned in 22 Congressional statements and/or press releases 

• Conducted a massive rehaul of NSBA’s back-end digital properties 

• Revamped NSBAadvocate.org 

• Represented NSBA at the 2025 Aspen Ideas Institute forum and discussion  

• Hosted 32 Policy Group, Leadership Council, and Issue Committee meetings 

• Led Livestream discussions with EXIM Bank, Visa, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler and more 

• 3,495 Member Advocates participating in NSBA's Action Center 

• 31,000 followers across our social media platforms 

• More than 23,400 impressions on X 

• Over 5,700 mentions of NSBA in the media and national press 

• Organized more than 70 meetings for NSBA members with Members of Congress 

• Achieved three of our top five Priority Issues - with many more wins to come for 2026

While this is certainly an impressive list of accomplishments, we know there is still much to be done. In the coming year, we will continue fighting against the CTA; we will push lawmakers to seek policies that make health insurance more affordable; we will ensure that small businesses retain their far share of federal contracting dollars; we will push lawmakers to support efforts to expand your access to affordable financing; and we will begin digging into energy policy that fosters entrepreneurship.  

As we’ve done for nearly 90 years, we will continue to lead by example, showing that bipartisanship and pragmatism can work. NSBA represents a very diverse group of small-business owners: from far-right to far-left; from manufacturers to nail salons; from Portland to Pittsburgh, and everywhere in between. We will continue pushing forward with our shared mission to support policies that help small businesses start, run and grow. 

We’re more than just Main Street – we’re EVERY Street. 

From the NSBA family to yours, I wish you a safe and happy holiday season and look forward to a productive 2026. 

Warmly, 

Todd