Federal policy recommendations to finance the growth of the Ownership Economy

Published September 2024

Growing ownership opportunities in the U.S. economy is one of the most promising ways to expand financial freedom and chip away at the country’s enormous wealth gap. What does that mean exactly? It means making it easier for Americans — especially those at lower income levels — to grow their household balance sheets by developing assets and equity, for example through home ownership or by having an ownership stake in the company where they work. 

As we wrote recently in Forbes, one of the biggest barriers to broadening this “Ownership Economy” is the lack of big capital to facilitate the purchase of assets and equity. For example, a $10 billion fund would enable millions of Americans to finance the purchase of the companies they work for, at a moment when many retiring owners are looking to sell. The right kinds of investors — and patient capital — will be essential for moving this work from the periphery to the mainstream. 

The public sector will also play a central role in both enabling or inhibiting the rapid expansion of the Ownership Economy. 

• How might it enable? By providing tax benefits for investments into single family homes for low-income families, to parallel the existing tax credits for multi-family low-income housing.
• How might it inhibit? By maintaining barriers to financing for broad-based employee ownership, such as the personal guarantee requirement on the SBA 7a small business loan guarantee.