Business Sales Are Heating Up

Business owners who sold their companies in the second quarter of this year are getting 20 percent higher prices than those who sold their businesses the same time last year.

Good Morning!

Here are today’s highlights:            

• The debate over the pass-through tax deduction that is set to expire next year has already started. Does it help enough small businesses?

• The New York Times decides to investigate the cost of picture framing.

• A federal judge has blocked the FTC’s ban on non-competes.

TAXES

The pass-through tax deduction won’t expire until the end of next year, but the discussion is building: “Most businesses in the U.S. are pass-through businesses. That means rather than owners taking a salary or wages from the business, they take a share of the business’ profit as their own income. Prior to the 2017 tax changes, business owners had to pay regular income taxes on that money, but now there is a 20-percent deduction on some of it. ‘Think about small companies, small businesses on Main Streets all across America,’ said Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. ‘As to who uses it, there are about 22.5 million pass-through entities who have utilized the 20 percent pass-through credit, and by the way, they employ about 50 percent of the entire private-sector, for-profit workforce.’”