Op-Ed: One Big Beautiful Bill is a Win for Every Arkansas Business

August 14, 2025

by Arkansas Money and Politics By Tom Cotton

The successful passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill is a historic achievement for every American and every Arkansan. I’m proud to have supported this legislation from the start and to have carried it over the finish line with President Trump.

The extraordinary benefits for small- and medium-sized businesses, families, workers, farmers and ranchers in Arkansas are among the many reasons I fought to pass the OBBB into law.

First, the 20 percent pass-through deduction was made permanent for more than 170,000 small business owners in Arkansas. With the certainty of the deduction, small business owners can more confidently make long-term investments that grow their business.

Second, the OBBB codified significant reference price increases to help farmers keep pace with skyrocketing costs. In particular, this provision will help Arkansas rice farmers, who report using reference prices from 2012. Additionally, the OBBB also included new disaster assistance funding, which will come to the aid of those impacted by hailstorms, major rains, and other adverse weather events. Put simply, these changes aim to alleviate some of the financial pressure facing Arkansas farmers and offer desperately needed relief.

The OBBB also increased and made permanent the death tax exemption. Far too often, families coping with the death of a loved one are forced to sell off their farm or business to cover exorbitant estate taxes. This not only affects families, but also the broader community that the business supports. No more. Now, Arkansas families can rest easy knowing that the business they built from scratch will remain in their family and a part of their community.

To unleash domestic production and innovation, the OBBB also restores the full expensing of new capital investments, domestic R&D development, and new factories and factory improvements. These provisions are critical to our national security and essential if America is to successfully overcome the economic threat from Communist China. Thanks to the OBBB, innovative businesses will be more easily created, fostered and grown right here at home.

Furthermore, the OBBB will benefit small businesses by restoring and making permanent interest deductibility. This provision will assist Arkansas’s small businesses — which make up 99.3 percent of all businesses in the Natural State — with financing large purchases that expand their business and increase jobs.

Lastly, the Opportunity Zone program is both renewed and enhanced under the OBBB. The landmark law saved $538 million in funding for the Opportunity Zone program in Arkansas, bringing investment to rural and low-income communities in our state. Revamping this program will incentivize economic growth, prosperity, and development across Arkansas.

Though this is just a sampling of the numerous parts of the OBBB, each provision will give Arkansans and their families more financial breathing room. This legislation will have a lasting beneficial impact on generations of farmers, ranchers and small business owners throughout our state.

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