It's a type of planning that had not become infrequent. The government has provided an estimate of the revenue gain from restricting the availability of the small business deduction. It has always been the long-standing policy that a business, whether it's owned by one individual or by several individuals operating together in a partnership, should be entitled to one small business deduction, so they're entitled to the low small business rate on $500,000 a year of taxable income.
On November 17th, 2016. See this statement in context.