Congress is now about half-way through their month-long August recess, generally a time spent meeting with constituents and hosting town-hall meetings. During an election year—such as this year—the stakes are a bit higher. Given the downturned economy, the stakes for small business are high too.
There are more than 70 million people in the U.S. who work for, or run a small business, and while our plight has been front-and-center in the news and stump speeches, there remains a good deal of work to be done by Congress to truly help small business.
In the coming three weeks, NSBA is urging all small-business owners to reach-out to their elected officials and urge them to act on key small-business legislation. While it may be midterm election season for many lawmakers, small businesses are still struggling in the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Below is a short-list of some of the key items Congress must act on when they return from the recess.
- Approve the Small Business Jobs Bill in its entirety, which includes the Small Business Lending Fund and key tax provisions such as the one-year deduction of health insurance costs from self-employment taxes.
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Repeal the expanded 1099 reporting requirement passed as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). This provision would require businesses to file a 1099 report on all companies with which they spend more than $600 annually and would dramatically increase the average number of 1099’s filed by small businesses from 10 to 86. Furthermore, this provision will hamper business-to-business transactions as firms look to ease the new requirement by consolidating business purchases, giving big-box companies a huge advantage over small businesses.
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Pass a long-term, small-business friendly reauthorization—similar to the Senate language—for the highly-successful Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) Program. Now operating under its eighth continuing resolution, the SBIR program desperately needs some long-term stability.
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Enact a permanent estate tax reform and end the ongoing complexity and confusion that has been a thorn in the sides of small- and family-owned businesses.
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Approve legislation to include small-business credit cards in the protections enacted under the Credit CARD Act of 2009.
Please take a few minutes today to tell your Senators and Representative that more must be done to ensure a thriving small-business community. While the pro-small business commentary is beneficial in focusing attention on the needs of small business, it is the actions lawmakers take that truly matter.
