On July 4, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law. This legislation includes pro-growth, pro-investment, pro-impact, and pro-workforce development provisions that will ensure our industry’s small businesses and entrepreneurs can continue driving economic growth, supporting job creation, empowering their small business customers, and helping to solve our most urgent societal challenges for years to come.

• Pro-growth: Business tax rates uniquely affect our industry. Rates not only affect our small businesses’ return on investment, but they also influence the number of exhibitors and attendees at business and professional events, which also impacts booth building, venue staffing levels, contractor hiring, union labor hours, local taxes, and much more. ECA applauds maintaining a competitive business tax rate and permanent 199A deduction that accelerates the growth of the industry and ensures that we continue to provide direct and catalytic value to our customers, stakeholders, and host communities.

• Pro-investment: Private investment capital has been vital to the growth and sustainability of the business events industry for years. Many of our small businesses have received direct support from private investors, including during the dark days of the pandemic when our entire industry was closed for business for 12-18 months in some U.S. states and cities. ECA commends sustaining the tax treatment of private equity profits and interest deductibility to preserve an important source of investment in our industry's future growth.

• Pro-impact: Nonprofit associations host more than 272,000 events annually that attract nearly 52 million attendees, support 342,000 jobs, and drive $42 billion in spending in communities nationwide. Their tax-exempt status, and the unrelated business income tax (UBIT) exemption for their events, support their mission-driven work and the $35.1 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenue they contribute each year. ECA celebrates maintaining the tax-exempt status of nonprofit associations and their events, which will maintain the critical work of these organizations for the industries, professions, and communities they serve.

• Pro-workforce development: Our industry's collective future success depends on equipping more Americans with the education, skills, and training necessary to advance their careers and grow our important sector of the U.S. economy. By expanding qualified expenses under Section 529 savings plans to include postsecondary training and credentialing, such as licenses and professional certifications, this legislation will transform these plans from college savings plans into career savings plans and help workers secure in-demand, good-paying jobs like those that our industry offers.

For more on ECA's perspective on tax reform, please click here.