How can business owners reduce taxes without hurting growth?

The most straightforward answer is one that many CPAs will suggest. Making a big purchase at the end of the year can be great to set up the business for future growth while also using the expense to reduce taxable income for the year. This is great because the expense can be all sorts of things that will be helpful for the business in the future.
We see this go wrong sometimes when a business is tight on cash because they are waiting on payments, but taxable income still shows as high so the CPA suggests buying something. This can be a headache until those payments come in. Even worse, the purchase can sometimes be wasted on a vehicle that doesn’t help the business grow.
The purchase should be something that will help the business grow, and not simply just an expense to lower taxes. In a construction business, we have seen heavy equipment purchases work well because they can directly lead to extra revenue.