Government Affairs Update: R&D Deductions and Election Changes

​Raleigh Chamber Advocating for Reinstatement of R&D Tax Deductions

The Raleigh Chamber is calling for the reintroduction of immediate federal tax deductions of Research & Development (R&D) costs which were the norm for over seventy years until January 2022 when the tax code required them to be amortized. While this change impacts all companies that engage in research and development, it most drastically impacts startups and small businesses who rely on those immediate deductions for their financial models to work.​

In collaboration with several other metropolitan chambers across the state, we are encouraging our federal delegation to revert the R&D tax rules. Conversations are positive and it looks like these changes will happen soon, but with so much on the line for so many regional companies, there’s no time to waste.

Raleigh Council Considers Adding Seats, Other Changes

The council is moving forward with plans to change how many elected officials represent Raleigh, how often they must run, and several other changes to how we elect our city leaders.
 
Details are yet to be decided, but there seems to be consensus to adopt four-year terms (from the current two-year terms), with potentially the mayor remaining on two-year terms to increase citizens’ ability to hold them accountable. Should four-year terms go into effect, candidates would run in staggered terms, eliminating the possibility of a whole council turnover in a single election.
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There also seems to be agreement that more seats need to be added to the council table due to the city’s explosive growth over the past decades, but there does not seem to be agreement on how many new seats would be added (anywhere from one to four were brought up), whether they would run in districts to represent specific parts of the city, or whether they would be at-large to represent the city as a whole. Yet to be discussed in depth are whether council members should receive more compensation for their time in their position, and how much that increase would be.

The council will go through all of this in much more detail at future work sessions, but whatever changes they agree on will go on the November 2024 ballot for citizens to approve or reject, with the goal of the changes going into effect for the 2026 election cycle. ​
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