Small Business Jobs Bill

Please see article on small business jobs bill. This will be coming up next Tuesday according to Ryan McCormick in Senator Nelson office.

Senator Nelson has put forth an amendment that would change the $600 1099 requirement such that 1099s will not be required beyond the current requirements for businesses with less than 25 employees. For those over 25 employees the threshold would be raised to from $600 to $5000.

To pay for this there would be an oil tax.

What is interesting is according to Ryan the oil tax has not been scored by the Congressional Budget Office or the Joint Tax Committee. This is important because if it raises $17 billion over 10 years it would replace the revenues the CBO says the 1099 requirement would have raised. While it is Small Business California’s position that regardless of how much money the oil tax raises there should be a full repeal of the 1099 requirement but certainly if it raises $17 billion there is no excuse that businesses with over 25 employees should be subject to the requirement.

One last fly in the ointment is that the Joint Tax Committee for some reason has scored the 1099 differently than the Congressional Budget Office scoring it as raising $19.2 billion. Kind of makes you wonder about numbers that come out of Congress.

We are watching this closely.

Scott Hauge
President
Small Business California
2311 Taraval Street
San Francisco, CA 94116
shauge@cal-insure.com
415-680-2188



Senate must pass small-business incentives, Voinovich says


By Lori Montgomery Thursday, September 9, 2010; 1:33 PM Washington Post

Retiring Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) said he plans to help push a package of small-business incentives through the Senate next week, a move that would give President Obama and congressional Democrats a key victory on the economy in the final weeks before the November midterm elections.

In an interview, Voinovich said he could no longer support efforts by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to delay the measure in hopes of winning the right to offer additional GOP amendments. Most of the proposed amendments "didn't have anything to do with the bill" anyway, Voinovich said, and amounted merely to partisan "messaging."

"We don't have time for messaging. We don't have time anymore. This country is really hurting," Voinovich said. If a single amendment to reduce paperwork for business owners is considered on the floor, Voinovich said he told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that he would add his vote to that of 59 Democrats. That would give the majority party the 60 votes needed to overcome possible a GOP filibuster and move the package to final passage when Congress returns to Washington next week.

The small-business bill is a top priority for Obama, who has called repeatedly on Senate Republicans to drop their "blockade" of the measure. He mentioned it again during a speech Wednesday in Cleveland, arguing that the weeks of delay in the bill's passage "is actually leading [small-business owners] to put off hiring."

The package of tax breaks and other incentives includes a new loan fund that would encourage community banks to provide up to $30 billion to small businesses, improving access to credit - a problem hurting small businesses in Ohio, Voinovich said. He cited the case of a constituent whose business was turned down for a loan by 42 banks.

"We don't have time anymore to play games," Voinovich said. "I happen to believe these small-business people can't get money to save their souls."

Voinovich, a longtime champion of federal transportation spending, said he also plans to work with Obama to pursue a six-year reauthorization of the federal highway bill, and to jump-start the measure with $50 billion in immediate spending. Voinovich said the president called him personally to ask for his support, but offered few details about his reauthorization plan - including how it would be funded.

The senator is a strong advocate of responsible budgeting and has long called for increasing the gas tax, the traditional financing source for the nation's roadways. He said he mentioned that in his phone call with Obama, who proposed financing the first $50 billion by eliminating tax benefits for oil and gas companies. The latter idea is likely to be more popular among voters.

"I made very clear he would be better off talking about a gas tax to pay for this than to come up with other ways of paying for it," Voinovich said, adding that the president "did not respond to that. He just listened."

Voinovich's staff has been working with Senate Democrats to craft a reauthorization of the highway act. Until now, Voinovich said, administration officials have shown little interest in the effort. But Voinovich said Obama now realizes that "it won't happen without his leadership. He understands he's got to get involved."