WASHINGTON, D.C. – Small businesses are on the upswing after enactment of the working families tax cuts, with signs of more confidence in the future. New surveys show both small business optimism and hiring picked up during the month of August. 

“Permanent pro-growth tax policy is allowing small businesses to finally invest in their future and in their employees. Hiring new workers, building new facilities and buying new equipment is a vote of confidence in a better tomorrow. Small business expansion would not be possible without President Trump and Republicans passing the working families tax cuts into law,” said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08).

Small businesses with 1-9 employees hired 11,600 new employees in August according to the latest reading of the Small Business Index. Since February, these businesses have added nearly 100,000 Main Street jobs, and permanence of the 20 percent small business deduction is projected to add up to 1 million new jobs annually. 

Another report, the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index, showed small business optimism climbed to 100.3, nearly 3 points above the 52-year average. Small businesses expect real sales to increase, as expectations for job creation in the next three months are also elevated. 

A related index, the Uncertainty Index from the NFIB, fell as more businesses have confidence about capital expenditures. Fifty-six percent of owners report capital outlays in the last six months. Of those making expenditures, 37 percent invested in new equipment, 22 percent in vehicles, 17 percent in expanded facilities, 13 percent in fixtures, and 5 percent in new buildings. The working families tax cuts made a trio of pro-growth tax policies permanent: research & development expensing, 100 percent immediate expensing, and interest deduction; and added 100 percent expensing for new factories and facilities.

Learn more about the working families tax cuts here.