WASHINGTON – With the 119th Congress underway, the International Franchise Association (IFA) today released its 2025 policy priorities aimed at protecting, enhancing, and promoting the franchise business model as a key component of small business growth now and into the future. These five specific policy areas serve as the official roadmap from the franchise business community to the incoming Trump administration and lawmakers that will incentivize further growth and expansion of a business model that is responsible for the creation of over 800,000 small business and more than 9 million direct jobs.

IFA’s policy priorities, which are available here, include:

  1. Codifying A Joint Employer Standard That Preserves Franchisee Independence and Protects Their Equity: IFA supports a joint employer standard that requires direct control of narrowly defined essential terms and conditions of employment. An appropriate joint employer standard ensures franchisees continue to receive franchisor support and that brand standards can be enforced to protect the equity each franchisee has built in their business while preserving the autonomy of franchisees to independently manage employee relationships.
  2. Preserving A Tax Code that Supports Franchise Development and Wage Growth: IFA is committed to addressing lingering tax concerns facing the franchise community, including extension of several key components of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA): permanence of the Section 199A business deduction, enhancement of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), repeal of the estate tax, the foreign-derived intangible income incentive, and continuation of the veteran tax credit.
  3. Improving Franchise Disclosure to Promote Responsible Franchising: IFA supports increasing transparency in the franchise sales process and modernizing the disclosures required under the Franchise Rule. In May 2024, IFA put forward a series of policy recommendations to improve pre-sale disclosure requirements and make due diligence more robust, facilitating a stronger foundation for all franchise relationships. IFA urges the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to adopt the Responsible Franchising policy recommendations and focus on improving disclosure.
  4. Ensuring Main Street Fairness and Stopping Burdensome Regulations: IFA supports efforts to improve SBA lending programs, protect franchised small businesses from exorbitant credit card transaction fees, establish a national privacy law with a private right of action that applies equivalently to all businesses handling consumers’ information and avoids potentially unintended consequences that would unfairly burden small businesses. IFA also supports challenges to the constitutionality of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).
  5. Preventing the Spread of Misguided State-Based Policies at the Federal Level: IFA has engaged in several state-level debates over the implementation of policies aimed at harming or ending the franchise model. Franchise businesses have higher rates of safety compliance, and IFA supports enforcement of laws to protect employees from wage theft and ensure health and safety. However, IFA opposes attempts to create new councils to regulate industries based on flawed data that harm small businesses and their employees.

“As the incoming administration and Congress embark on their goal of strengthening America’s economy and middle-class with good-paying jobs, the franchise community stands ready to serve as a key partner,” said Matt Haller, President and CEO of IFA. “The November elections made clear the country is hungry for policies that will lift people up and provide more upward mobility. Our model is responsible for nearly 9 million direct jobs here at home, jobs that pay higher wages and create better opportunities for people from all walks of life. Prioritizing these policies will unleash the power of franchising and allow more people from all walks of life to start their own journey toward the American Dream.”

In a recent op-ed for Fox News, Haller wrote about IFA’s policy goals in a column headlined, “3 ways Trump can deliver an economic ‘golden age’ for America.”

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