As we prepare for tonight’s State of the Union Address, here’s what small business would like to see the President focus on.
Taxes, healthcare and energy will likely be
major focuses during tonight’s State of the Union address, and we’ll be tuning
in to see what kind of impact the President’s address will have on small
businesses. We’ll be live tweeting tonight from @NFIB, so follow along, and
come back to NFIB.com tomorrow for a full recap. In the meantime, here’s what
small business is hoping to hear in tonight’s speech:
Tax relief and reform for individuals as well as corporations
·
Small
businesses are looking for tax relief – this means reduced income taxes as well
as corporate taxes. If the President is serious about tax reform, this is
something we’ll see. Because three-quarters of all small business owners pay
their taxes as individuals, a corporate-only approach to tax reform won’t help
most of the economy.
·
Extending
deductions for big capital expenses is one way POTUS and Congress can help
small business.
Creating jobs and maintaining coal plants
·
Shutting down
coal plants makes electricity more expensive – and that hurts small businesses.
·
After years of
“studying” the Keystone Pipeline, isn’t it time to move forward with this job creator?
Changes to Obamacare and the passing of HR-30
·
Millions of
Americans – including small business owners – have lost their insurance under
Obamacare, so it’s clearly not working for small businesses. “Small business
subsidies” under Obamacare have been small and temporary, but premiums keep
increasing and have risen significantly. We’ll continue to fight for changes to
Obamacare to make it less harmful for small business owners.
·
Passing HR-30
would change the definition of “full-time employee” (for purposes of an
employer providing healthcare) from someone who works an average of 30 hours a
week to an employee who works an average of 40 hours weekly. The cost savings
for small business owners if HR-30 is passed would be tremendous.
Passing of the Regulatory Accountability Act
·
Small business
needs regulatory reform, so we’d like to see the passing of the Regulatory
Accountability Act. The typical small business currently pays more than $12,000
each year to comply with federal regulations.
Passing the act would make it harder for bureaucracies to penalize small
businesses.
Be sure to follow along on Twitter @NFIB for our commentary during the
State of the Union Address. We’ll check in tomorrow with our feedback on this
year’s address.
