The tax provisions of the Biden administration’s American Families Plan would provide a substantial, if unintentional, boost to employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). The proposal would significantly increase capital gains taxes for wealthy individuals, marginally increase the top individual tax rate, and increase the top marginal corporate tax from 21% to 28%.
California Republican Senator Scott Wilk has introduced SB-553, which would provide 100% ESOP-owned companies with a 3% bid preference on state contracts.
Based on data from Forbes, the country’s 679 billionaires saw their wealth increase by $1.3 trillion since the official start of the pandemic in March 2020.
In 2022, the National Defense Authorization Act created the first-ever government contracting program to specifically encourage ESOPs. Section 874 of the new law created a Department of Defense (DoD) pilo
Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) have introduced S. 4623, the AGILE Procurement Act of 2022, which includes a provision to extend the pilot program established in the National Defense Authorization Act that allows 100% ESOP-owned companies to qualify for sole-source follow-on contracting with the Department of Defense.
The Work Act, which would create a major federal program to provide funding and support for state-level outreach and technical assistance for employee ownership, has been incorporated in the proposed RISE and SHINE Act.
The House Budget Committee has approved a $500 million pilot program as part of its final markup of a $25 billion bill for the Small Business Administration (SBA).
