Small Business Majority

Solving Small Businesses' Biggest Problems

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Small Business Majority Economic Policy Recommendations

In the aftermath of the Great Recession, the United States is left staring at a bleak landscape: An employment crisis along with an imbalance in government spending and revenue. Job growth is nonexistent, demand for services is weak, sales are slow, the stock market is gyrating wildly and consumer confidence is feeble. Looming over these problems is the specter of a double-dip recession. Many are left wondering whether there is a way forward.

There is a path out of this economic quagmire, and it runs down the Main Streets of America. The following documents outline Small Business Majority's policy recommendations to help rebuild our economy.

A plan for small business growth and economic recovery	October, 2011 - Small Business Majority
Policies that will put small business to work	October, 2011 - Small Business Majority

 

Small Business Jobs and Credit Act

On Sept. 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010— bipartisan legislation that tackles some of the fundamental problems small business owners currently face, including a lack of access to loans and a heavy tax burden. Since the financial meltdown in 2008, small business owners have found it difficult if not impossible to get the capital they need to grow their companies or simply keep their doors open. This legislation provides $12 billion in tax cuts and an expansion of SBA and community bank lending, among other meaningful provisions, that will make it easier for America’s 28 million small businesses to succeed in today’s economy.

Throughout debate on the bill, Small Business Majority worked with business organizations, advocates and small business owners to build widespread support for the Act. Two days before the Senate's final approval of the measure, CEO John Arensmeyer joined four senators in a press conference on Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to pass the crucial legislation.

The Small Business Jobs Act takes direct aim at many of the challenges entrepreneurs contend with on a regular basis, and offers new resources for small business owners to get ahead. These central components of the Small Business Jobs Act, along with other aspects of the bill that cut small businesses’ tax burden and open access to new capital, take effect immediately in 2010.

• Expanded and enhanced SBA loan programs. This provision lifts the limits on SBA loans and extends the elimination of SBA loan fees. SBA 7(a) loan limits will increase from $2 to $5 million and 504 loans from $1. 5 to $5.5 million. These loan limit adjustments will swell lending to small businesses by $5 billion within the first year, helping create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
• An expansion of community bank lending for small businesses. The jobs act authorizes the creation of the Small Business Lending Fund, allowing the Treasury to purchase preferred stock from financial institutions with less than $10 billion in assets. This fund will result in $300 billion in small business lending.
• $12 billion in tax cuts. Eight new tax cuts for small businesses are included in the legislation, such as a 100% exclusion of small business capital gains, and a provision disallowing general business credits to be subject to the alternative minimum tax. It extends the 50% bonus depreciation provision of the Recovery Act through 2010 and limits penalties for tax reporting that far too often disproportionately affect small businesses.
• Tax equity for the 22 million self-employed to help them afford health insurance. This provision would let self-employed business owners deduct their family’s health insurance expenses from their self-employment tax income. Independent analyses predict this will result in up to nearly $1,000 in savings per recipient in 2011, totaling over $1.9 billion in tax cuts for America’s self-employed entrepreneurs.
• Export promotion support for small businesses. The legislation would permanently increase the size of international trade finance loans and strengthen the Commerce Department’s ability to promote American exports. The bill establishes a State Export Promotion Grant Program, strengthening coordination between federal and state export agencies and SBA resource partners. It also leverages more than $1 billion in export capital for small businesses, another tool to help small business owners to hire new employees.
• Business expansion incentives. The measure increases the deduction for start-up expenditures and temporarily enlarges the first-year write-off for business equipment. Specifically, the maximum deduction for start-up expenses in 2010 and 2011 will be increased from $5,000 to $10,000, and employers will immediately be able to write-off 50% of their capital expenditure costs for an additional year for qualifying property purchased and placed into service in 2010.

> Read more about the Small Business Jobs Act on the SBA website.