Seven Key Moments: West Tennessee Field Hearing on How Pro-Growth Tax Relief Helps Small Businesses & Manufacturers Invest, Grow, Hire, & Compete

COLLIERVILLE, TENNESSEE - Permanent, pro-growth tax relief in the Working Families Tax Cuts is helping Main Street businesses and American manufacturers expand, hire, compete, and support the working families in their communities, according to testimony from witnesses at a recent Ways and Means field hearing in West Tennessee. Boyden Moore of Orgill described how the law is helping the thousands of independent hardware stores his company serves. Alex Grover of Pennsylvania manufacturer and Orgill supplier i2M highlighted how the Employer-Provided Child Care Credit and full expensing of facilities and equipment are supporting her workforce and a major expansion of their operations. Wade Thompson of Thompson Prestress in Jackson, Tennessee, detailed how the permanency of expensing policies accelerated new investments and hiring. Mike Miller of Patrick's Neighborhood Bar and Patio in Memphis shared how the small business deduction allows him to fund a 401(k) plan for his employees.

Before the Working Families Tax Cuts, the largest tax hike in American history was set to hit workers and small businesses. The 20 percent small business deduction was on the chopping block, full expensing for equipment was phasing out, and immediate expensing for domestic research had already expired. Republicans made them all permanent and, for the first time, let manufacturers fully deduct the cost of new factory construction and facility improvements.

The hearing made it clear: the Working Families Tax Cuts are showing up in the paychecks, hiring decisions, and investment plans of businesses across West Tennessee and beyond, benefiting workers, families, and their communities. This feedback provides valuable lessons as Congress looks to define the next chapter of tax reform.

Child Care Is "Incredibly Important Workforce Infrastructure"

Pennsylvania manufacturer i2M has offered a child care benefit to its employees since 2022. It partners with a local provider to reserve spots, reduce rates, and extend hours for team members working 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. shifts. CEO Alex Grover told Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) how that benefit brought a stay-at-home mom back into the workforce and onto i2M's team.

Chairman Smith (MO-08): "Miss Grover, we know parents, particularly low- and middle-income folks, may have to face a decision of stepping away from full-time work or leaving the workforce altogether to take care of their kids… Some might make the decision because that's what they would prefer to do, but others might simply have no affordable or dependable child care options available. As an employer that has used the employer-provided tax credit - which we enhanced in the Working Families Tax Cuts - to establish a child care program at your company, how has it impacted your workers, and what do you think it means for the health of your business and any business that utilizes policies like this?"

Alex Grover, Owner and CEO, i2M: "We have a team member [whose] wife was a stay-at-home mom for their three children. And she did that because that was the most cost-effective solution for their family. He was able to enroll his children in our program. Again, we offer significantly reduced rates and, importantly, extended hours to allow that to be a great fit for their family. As a result, his wife was able to reenter the workforce, actually coming on board at i2M. So what does that mean for a family like that? Instead of having a single parent who's bringing in income, you now have two people who are not just working, they're building a career in U.S. manufacturing… So, it's stories like that that tell me that A) child care is incredibly important workforce infrastructure, but B) it's a way to help create stability for families, give them greater access to income, and give them greater access to wonderful careers in U.S. manufacturing."

Full Expensing Moves Investment Forward Faster

Since the law took effect, concrete manufacturer Thompson Prestress has invested, committed, or budgeted more than $6 million in West Tennessee and hired about 50 employees. That includes launching a ready-mix concrete company from scratch with 42 mixer trucks. Representative David Kustoff (TN-08), who hosted the hearing in his district, asked how 100 percent bonus depreciation shaped those decisions.

Rep. Kustoff (TN-08): "You've got substantial investments in batch plants and loaders and forms and production equipment and mixer trucks. I know you made investments in 40-something trucks. Can you explain how this equipment works together to produce and deliver concrete, and also about that 100 percent bonus depreciation and how that allows you to make those investment decisions?"

Wade Thompson, Owner and President, Thompson Prestress: "The equipment has to work together as a system. More mixing capacity only helps if we can also manufacture or deliver the additional concrete that we can produce. So immediate write-offs for qualifying equipment helped us accelerate the larger purchases needed to support that capacity. Some equipment, like the new forms, we needed regardless. The difference was how quickly we could move forward."

Tax Relief Reaches the Independent Hardware Store on Main Street

Hardware distributor Orgill serves more than 13,500 stores in every state, and about 60 percent of its customers are single-store, independent hardware retailers. Full expensing generated roughly $25 million in tax benefits for Orgill in 2025 alone. In his opening statement, Orgill CEO Boyden Moore explained how the same tax policies are helping the small businesses his company serves.

Boyden Moore, President and CEO, Orgill: "But beyond the benefits that Orgill has experienced directly, perhaps even more important are the opportunities this legislation creates for our customers - the small, independent, and often family-owned businesses that are so integral to the communities across the country. For independent retailers, provisions within the act can create similar opportunities to strengthen their cash flow and reinvest in their businesses. From equipment and technology upgrades to pass-through tax deductions and workforce incentives, these provisions provide tools that can help local businesses invest, grow, and remain competitive."

Main Street Tax Relief Opens Up Avenues to Better Recruit, Retain, and Support Workers

Independent restaurants typically see profit margins of 3 to 6 percent, and 401(k) retirement plans are rare at single-location restaurants. Mike Miller, owner of Patrick's Neighborhood Bar and Patio, uses his savings from the small business deduction to cover most of the cost of a 401(k) match for his staff.

Chairman Smith (MO-08): "Mr. Miller, you've taken the savings from the small business deduction and invested in 401(k) plans for your employees, giving them a more secure future retirement. Why was that important to you as an employer and business owner? And what do you see that doing for retention, for employee satisfaction and performance, and for the restaurant industry you've been a part of for three decades?"

Mike Miller, Owner, Patrick's Neighborhood Bar and Patio: "This is an opportunity in a very tough industry… When you talk about making an investment, that is a significant impact, having this help to invest in your people, because that's our biggest challenge today. Cost of goods is certainly a close second, but cost of goods is manageable. Getting people that want to work, that want to stay where they are, that we don't have to train and retrain, that want to continue to work. I'm very proud that, of my 50 employees, I've got over 10 of them, 10 percent of them that have been with me for 20 years or longer. And part of that is because of the way that I look at my staff. And this was an opportunity to invest in them… We're not competing for each other's secret recipe and this or that or the other. We want to have people that provide the services that we want to put out there that make our businesses successful."

Removing Barriers So Working Parents Can Get to Work and Stay at Work

The Working Families Tax Cuts raised the employer-provided child care credit's cap to $500,000 and its rate to 40 percent. That makes it more feasible for businesses to offer quality child care benefits. Representative Carol Miller (WV-01) asked Alex Grover of i2M how the expansion is strengthening the workforce at a plant that never stops running.

Rep. Miller (WV-01): "Could you please tell me more about the impact of provision 45F, the employer-provided child care tax credit, and how its expansion led to a stronger workforce and provided assistance to working families?"

Alex Grover, Owner and CEO, i2M: "In order to be in manufacturing, you have to be there physically at the plant… That means that you have to have a child care solution in place. And so if we're going to rely on our team and rely on them to show up to create these innovative products for our customers, then we also need to help remove some of those barriers to them getting to work and staying to work… So, not only is it great for our community and great for our team member; we see terrific impact on our business, improved retention rates, lowered call-off rates, all of these types of key factors that are critical for a 24/7 operation where our machines simply don't stop."

No Tax on Tips Delivers for Servers Working Their Way Through College, Raising Families, Building a Career

Many tipped employees may be college students, young parents working part-time, or career servers. After his accounting team ran the numbers, Mr. Miller of Patrick's Neighborhood Bar and Patio shared what No Tax on Tips - created in the Working Families Tax Cuts - has been worth to his staff.

Mike Miller, Owner, Patrick's Neighborhood Bar and Patio: "The feedback that I've gotten from the people that happily took the $25,000 deduction on their taxes, it has been significant… We did a little bit of drilling down with our accounting. Again, small little restaurant. The impact to my staff is nominally $55,000 in tax savings a year, and I have about 30 tipped employees on my staff. So, you start taking that and dividing that out, you got $1,800 in effect for a college student, a young mother working part-time. Those are significant numbers that help my staff… It's a benefit now that we can point to, to say, hey, come back to our industry, stay in our industry."

Not a Break for Billionaires: A Bill "Designed by People Who Actually Understand Manufacturing"

Democrats claim the Working Families Tax Cuts were a giveaway to billionaires. At i2M, the law's layered incentives are driving a $63 million investment. That includes a 130,000-square-foot expansion opening in 2027 and 40 new team members. The expansion will bring home production now sourced mostly from Asia. Representative Beth Van Duyne (TX-24) asked Ms. Grover what drove that decision.

Rep. Van Duyne (TX-24): "We've heard over and over again from our colleagues on the other side of the aisle that this Working Families Tax Cut bill was nothing more than a break for billionaires. But what I've heard every single story today… is how this really has contributed and benefiting to small companies, to employees, to parents… You also spoke about how immediate research expensing has produced the greatest number of production innovations in your company's history. Was that the catalyst for your recently announced expansion, and did that immediate expensing for manufacturing facilities also play a role?"

Alex Grover, Owner and CEO, i2M: "One of the things that I've really appreciated about the structure in general is it feels as though it was a bill that was designed by people who actually understand manufacturing, and the layering of tax incentives makes a tremendous impact on the business… By creating this layering of immediate R&D expensing, immediate expensing of equipment, and the ability to deduct the building expansion that we have planned, we've created a terrific incentive package that's for us really changed the calculus from, are we going to make this decision in a few years? Are we going to invest in American manufacturing in five, six years, or is now the time to do it? And it's really changed that decision for us and allowed us to then create that expansion plan."