Blogs

Immigration reform and the “Gang of Eight’s” bill making its way through the Senate right now is big news, and for good reason. Our immigration system is broken. It needs to be fixed. Small business owners recognize this and realize reform will be good for their businesses, their communities and our economy. The Gang of Eight’s bill is a huge step in the right direction toward reforming the system, but it’s not perfect. No bill is.

While tax day is behind us, most small business owners have likely filed extensions to let them continue combing through the tax code looking for ways to keep their hard-earned dollars in their own coffers instead of in Uncle Sam’s. Fortunately, there have been some encouraging developments recently in Congress that could significantly impact small businesses.

This memo was originally issued on April 4, 2013:

The Department of Health and Human Services’ proposal to delay critical requirements for small business health insurance exchanges in some states is a disappointment to Small Business Majority and millions of small businesses. It’s a letdown to small business owners and their employees looking forward to robust, competitive exchanges in 2014. We hope this proposal is recognized as counterproductive and is abandoned.

This week marks the third anniversary of the health care law’s passage. Given the amount of airtime the law still gets, it’s hard to believe the Affordable Care Act has been on the books that long. The law continues to generate controversy from the corridors of Capitol Hill to the sidewalks of Main Street, but in fact many important provisions impacting our country’s primary job creators have been quietly helping small business owners better afford health insurance.

Late last year, California held the nation’s inaugural cap-and-trade auction, where greenhouse gas emission permits were sold in an effort to monetize and reduce carbon pollution. And just last month, new cap-and-trade regulations on large power and industrial plants officially went into effect.

John Arensmeyer

Small business has been the focus of Washington’s high-profile tax debate, both prior to and following the “fiscal cliff” fracas that closed out 2012. But as noisy as the small business tax issue has been, there’s been considerably more time spent debating cuts that will help a thin sliver of taxpayers in the top brackets than hashing out solutions that will help the vast majority of entrepreneurs