Small Businesses
We are currently working our way out of the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression. From homeowners to small business owners, college students to retirees, all Iowans are feeling the effects of this crisis. Ninety-eight percent of all Americans are employed by small businesses and the government must be accountable to the promises it has made to them to help them succeed.
Providing Incentives to Employers to Hire Unemployed Workers
For months, I have been pushing for tax credits for employers who hire veterans and am pleased that the Returning Heroes and Wounded Warriors tax credits were recently signed into law. These provisions will help spur the hiring of unemployed veterans and directly help hundreds of Iowa National Guard members who have returned home from overseas deployments.
Tax credits are available to employers who hire unemployed veterans:
- Up to $2,400 credits are available for hiring a veteran who has been unemployed from four weeks to six months.
- Up to $5,600 credits are available for hiring a veteran who has been unemployed for more than six months.
- Up to $9,600 credits are available for hiring a disabled veteran.
- Existing tax credits of up to $4,800 have been extended for hiring a veteran with a service-connected disability within a year of his or her discharge.
In August, I introduced the Combat Veterans Back to Work Act, a precursor to the tax credit programs that were signed into law.
The best way to thank our veterans and tell them ‘good job’ is to help them find a good job when they return home. I’ve been working for months to promote the idea of tax credits for businesses that hire returning veterans, and the recent bipartisan vote shows that this issue has big support on both sides of the aisle.
Last Congress, President Obama signed into law language from my Back to Work Act, which spurred small business job creation by creating a payroll tax cut for small business owners who hired previously unemployed workers. The bill includes my langtuage to exempt small businesses from paying the employer’s share of the social security tax for the rest of 2010 if they hire workers who have been unemployed for more than 60 days prior to employment.
This Congress I introduced the Back to Work Extension Act, which would extend these important provisions. It goes without saying that America’s small businesses are the backbone of our economy. As we continue to develop policies to strengthen our economy and put America’s middle class families back to work, small business development will be one of the keys to our success. This payroll tax cut is win-win, giving small business owners the help they need to create good-paying jobs for unemployed workers.
Simplifying Paperwork for Small Businesses
Last year President Obama signed my Plain Language Act into law, and this was one of my proudest moments as a Member of Congress. The bill requires the federal government to write documents, such as small business contracting forms and tax returns in simple easy-to-understand language, which will save small businesses time and money. Small businesses lose time and money because government forms are too complicated. Iowa small businesses deserve a government that reduces barriers to hiring, not creates more barriers through paperwork.
The Plain Language Act requires a simple change to business-as-usual that’ll make a big difference for anyone who’s ever filled out a tax return or received a government document. This bill shows what bipartisanship can accomplish when we put aside our differences and work together for the common good. This is a bill I’ve spent the past five years fighting for because it’s so important to making our government more accessible and transparent.
Reducing Undue Burdens on Small Business
I voted for the recent repeal of the three percent withholding requirement for vendors of government contracts. This requirement placed an unnecessary administrative burden on small businesses and had the potential to put a strain on their daily operations by thinning profit margins – lack of a healthy cash flow prevents reinvestment in these small businesses and hiring of new workers, and in the worst case scenario, can cause these operations to go out of business.
Also, earlier this year, I voted to repeal the 1099 provision of the health care law that requires corporations to report payments over $600 on their 1099 tax forms. Small business owners are making tough choices every day, fighting to keep their businesses afloat. This is no time to hit them with new burdensome regulations. This provision increases the cost of doing business and puts an unfair burden on business owners when they can least afford it. I know that small businesses are the engine of our economy – they are the job creators in so many communities in Iowa and around the country. And I want to make sure they can stay focused on creating jobs.