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Any changes to the tax treatment of private equity profits “could basically freeze” investment in the industry. (Adobe Stock)
Many of Donald Trump’s plans for his second term as president are still taking shape, but the business events industry can get a sense of what to expect from his first term and immediate executive orders, as well as promises made during his 2024 campaign. Before Trump took office, Convene asked Tommy Goodwin, vice president of Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance (ECA) to break down Trump’s anticipated impact on events and ECA’s top priorities over the next four years of his term.
Tommy Goodwin
According to Goodwin, there are several key areas he and ECA will be keeping an eye on as the second Trump presidency unfolds. Here is what Goodwin shared regarding taxes:
The first Trump administration introduced extensive tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of 2025. While most don’t impact the events industry at all, “the reason it matters is to extend them for another 10 years would [cost] $4.6 trillion,” Goodwin said. “Even by D.C. standards, $4.6 trillion is a lot.” According to a Jan. 22 Reuters article, Trump has proposed using revenue from the higher tariffs he intends to implement, a move that was expected to get pushback from Congress. Capitol Hill’s search to offset those costs in other ways — such as potentially increasing corporate tax rates or private equity profit taxation — could cause a ripple effect throughout the business events world.
“If you think about where companies cut when taxes go up, it’s usually marketing, advertising, travel, and entertainment — a huge potential catalytic effect on event sizes, attendance, and exhibitors,” Goodwin said. And because there is a significant amount of private equity money in events, any changes to the tax treatment of private equity profits “could basically freeze” investment in the industry.
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ECA is also keeping a watchful eye on potential alteration to the tax-exempt status of nonprofit associations and their events, given that this sector of the industry drives $42 billion in spending annually nationwide and results in $35.1 billion in federal, state, and local annual tax revenue.
“PCMA’s Convening Leaders, edUcon, all the revenue from that, there’s no tax on it. There are quite a few people in Washington, D.C., who would like to change that,” Goodwin said. “That could be potentially devastating to the association side of the event space.”
Casey Gale is managing editor of Convene.