What was your experience like representing the industry on Capitol Hill—and why is it so important to preserve the 199A deduction?

Through NACS, I was invited to represent not only the convenience retail industry, but all small business owners. The 199A deduction and the bonus depreciation in this case only affect pass-through corporations.

Before testifying, we actually went to see the opposition on this one. We were invited by the Republicans. Jon Taets [from NACS] said, ‘You know what, the Republicans are on board. We’ll do some meetings with them, but I’ll see if I can get some meetings with the opposition.’ And it ended up that the opposition asked more questions of me than the side that invited me, which was very interesting. We thought that was great.

In the prep for testifying on the Hill, the NACS team was fantastic. The first sheet of paper they give you says, ‘Always tell the truth.’ You don’t have to embellish. One of the representatives asked me, ‘With all that money from the 199A depreciation, you didn’t run off to Tahiti, did you?’ Well, it just so happened that I did have a trip planned to Tahiti. I said, ‘I actually am taking a trip to Tahiti, but it’s not because of 199A.’ That was the only time I actually knew there were people behind me, because they all laughed. It was a little bit of levity.

Specifically on the 199A, let me say it this way. I appreciated all of the small business tax cuts prior to this one, but I never really saw the effects of them in my business. Overall, at the end of the day, my taxes would go up.

With this one, I got a call from my CPA firm, and the accountant said, ‘Listen Ray, you have the option of a bonus depreciation because of all the coolers you bought … We recommend that you take it.’ Having that come in for my company was a godsend.

I realized this was an opportunity. I could do more. This was found money. What do you do with found money? If you own a small business, you invest back into it. So I said, let’s go ahead and get those other fixtures and equipment that we couldn’t purchase before. Let’s get the tech cleaned up at our self-serve stores. And we did some other stuff that the company needed. It was significant. So I just kept investing, investing, investing. The 199A did work for me, and it worked great.

And all that investment is good for the economy. It’s good for small businesses and it’s good for the economy overall.