Saying It Out Loud, By Pat Soldano. January 2024.

Our Actions Are Loud, But Your 2024 Actions Make Us Louder

By Pat Soldano 

Maybe you’ve noticed, there’s not much action on Capitol Hill, but certainly a lot of talk.

The next podcast or media interview sometimes seems more important than helping the 59 percent of those working for America’s largest private employer, family businesses, and to those working for clients of family offices, and to those successful individuals who started family businesses.

So, when we at the Policy and Taxation Group look at the work we did with our sister organization, Family Enterprise USA, last year, and what is needed this year, we see a very real need to shift the balance of words to actions on Capitol Hill.

Our 2024 priority actions are to continue educating members of Congress, the Biden Administration, and the regulatory agencies about the harmful effects of the many proposals under consideration to family office clients.

What are we talking about exactly?

There are proposals on the table right now about increases in the top income tax rate, the reinstatement of the Individual Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), and the increase in Estate Tax Rate and/or reduction in the Lifetime Exemption. There is much more, too. It will take action, not words, to change things.

2024: Getting Started

Our go-to place for this is the one-year-old Congressional Family Business Caucus. This year, we will be working closely with Family Enterprise USA to reach out to the Caucus during its three 2024 meetings this year. The first one is March 12.

Right now, there are 39 members of Congress signed on to the Caucus, and we expect many more to join this year. We need to get the business community, and the public on board, too. We want everyone to know clients of family offices, generationally-owned family businesses, and successful individuals matter more than most people know.

More are being added to the fight each month. In the last quarter of 2023, Family Enterprise USA added members of the American Trucking Associations, Associated Equipment Distributors, Energy Marketers of America, National Funeral Directors Association and Air Conditioning Contractors of America to our sister organization, to its supporter base. This accounts for over 80,000 new members.

This year, we are taking the family business story on the road, with the hosting 25-plus regional family business and family office update meetings, some in collaborations with 40-plus family business centers.

In addition, working with Family Enterprise USA, our organizations will host the three Capitol Hill update meetings with Congress members, their staff, and with our in-house political strategist Dr. Frank Luntz. All of this is in conjunction with the Congressional Family Business Caucus.

Working with Family Enterprise USA, we have teamed with Family Business Magazine to write a regular column called, “From the Hill.” Each column provides insights into what’s happening on Capitol Hill. On the video and audio front, there are webcasts and a podcast, called The Voice of Family Business, featured on YouTube and Spotify.

Our reach is growing. Our weekly policy news-oriented emails are now sent to over 40,000 people engaged in family businesses. We are creating over 20 video stories covering important issues and challenges family offices and family businesses face, from workplace issues to transitioning to the next generation. And, there is this monthly column, too, plus weekly press releases and social media posts distributed nationwide.

A Senate-based Family Business Caucus

We’ve been successful in getting the bipartisan House-based Congressional Family Business Caucus up and running, with its four co-chairs and 39-plus members. But now we are looking at creating a similar caucus in the Senate.

This year, Policy and Taxation Group and Family Enterprise USA will focus on two Caucus items: 1) continue to grow the House-based caucus membership to at least 50 members of Congress and 2) help form a Senate-based Congressional Family Business Caucus. With the groundwork laid in the House, we believe we can make the Senate side a reality this year, something unthinkable two years ago.

All Caucus meetings in 2024 will focused on the critical issues affecting family offices, successful individuals, and family businesses, such as taxes, regulation, workforce training, charitable giving, and succession planning.

Policy and Taxation Group and Family Enterprise USA will also work with the Caucus to produce an Annual Family Business Report and assist caucus members in establishing Family Business Advisory Councils.

Building Caucus support with outside organizations is another key priority. And, we will ensure appropriate plans are in place to relaunch the Congressional Family Business Caucus when the 119th Congress is called to order, in January 2025.

All this action is no small task. It will require a selection of Caucus co-chairs, confirmation of Caucus members, scheduling of events, as well as creating topics that will benefit the clients of family offices, successful individuals, and generationally-owned family businesses.

You Can Act Right Now

Part of our job is to provide family offices and family business owners the tools to create real action and engagement. We’ve created resources to make it easy to act, to inform, and to educate our national legislators. Here are just a few of the things you can do right now to get the word out.

The first step: tell us your story.

We have an easy to fill out form. This form lets you tell your story. Your story can be developed into either a printed case study or made into one of our Family Business Stories videos.

What kind of story exactly?

Many of our supporters have stories related to the Estate and Gift Tax, R & D Expensing, Bonus Depreciation, Income Taxes. Or a Wealth Tax. But some stories focus on workplace issues or the challenges transitioning to the next generation.

To give you an idea, you can find many such stories on our website and on YouTube. These “lessons learned” video stories are from family office clients, such as generationally-owned CRST, Laticrete, A.DuiePYLE , Inolex, Goodfellows Bros., and American Food and Vending, to name just a few.

Next, join other hard-working American taxpayers by asking Congress NOT to impose a net investment income tax on non-passive business income. Why do we punish success? It takes a lifetime of savings to build multi-generational family businesses, farms, restaurants, and small businesses large and small. We can change that with your actions.

Contact your member(s) of Congress

We’ve made it easy to contact your member of Congress. Just go to our website and fill out the form and name your district or congressperson.

We have pre-written text ready to send, but you may ask what are the key issues?

Tell Congress:

• Keep Grantor Trusts
• Keep Valuation Discounts
• Keep the lifetime exemption for the estate tax where it is today
• Do not limit IRA’s assets
• Do not reduce 199A deduction!

Tell them it’s critical to join the Congressional Family Business Caucus…to make our voices heard!

Research is important too.

Each year, our sister organization, Family Enterprise USA, conducts large-scale research on the issues facing generationally-owned family businesses in the country. The results of our newest Annual Family Business Research Survey will be published in late February.

This research is critical in telling the family office and family business story to our legislators. You can help by participating in this survey by going to our survey page at our websites, www.policyand taxationgroup.com and www.familyentrpriseusa.com and filling out this short, but important research questionnaire.

We will use this research throughout 2024 to convince Congress that clients of family offices, success individuals, and family businesses are the most important parts of our national economy.

Finally, at Policy and Taxation Group we need your financial help in making our voice strong, and loud. We exist solely for, and are supported by family offices, successful individuals, and family businesses, as well as other providing services to this sector.

By joining the movement, by taking these simple actions, you take the first step in making family office clients, successful individuals, and family businesses stronger everywhere in America.

Pat Soldano, President of Family Enterprise USA, and the Policy Taxation Group, both are non-partisan organizations advocating for family businesses of all sizes and are the organizers of the Family Enterprise USA Annual Family Business Survey.

Policy and Taxation Group is the Voice for Family Offices and Successful Individuals in Washington, DC focused exclusively on the critical tax and economic policies that impact them.

Since 1995, Policy and Taxation Group has been the leading advocacy group working to reduce and eliminate estate tax, gift tax, and generation skipping transfer tax while blocking increased income tax and capital gains taxes, the creation of a wealth tax, and other hostile tax policies that punish hardworking taxpayers and success.

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