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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.
Small businesses are critical to our economy. In fact, they generate, on average, 6 in 10 net new jobs. Fortunately for our leading job creators, Congress took an important step at the beginning of the year to protect them and their core customer base by extending income tax cuts for the middle class, as part of the fiscal-cliff deal. But lawmakers now have another economic obstacle in their path: the sequester — a host of automatic spending cuts that began March 1 because lawmakers couldn’t agree on a deal to reduce the deficit. These across-the-board cuts could have dire consequences for the economy and small employers. But all is not lost. There are still some areas in the budget where Congress can quickly pick up revenue to avoid the bulk of the cuts.
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
For decades, hardworking entrepreneurs have faced skyrocketing health care costs. And that directly stunts their ability to grow. Small business owners want to provide benefits for their employees—we know that from our research. We also know affordability is the most common concern among small business owners who don’t offer coverage. But the Affordable Care Act is changing that. Health insurance exchanges and small business tax credits are giving small firms the kind of clout that large businesses enjoy in the marketplace, making it easier for them to afford health insurance for their employees.
Small business owners make hard decisions every day. They compromise on things they sometimes wish they didn’t have to, but they do it for the good of their business, their employees and their families. They do it because they have to if they want to continue running a successful business.
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