A Formula For Job Creation: Tax Law Changes For Small Businesses

Abstract

The Bush tax cuts in 2001 (Economic Growth and Taxpayer Relief Reconciliation Act, (EGTRRA) and in 2003 (Job Growth and Taxpayer Relief Reconciliation Act, JGTRRA) are touted as providing an aid to the economy's recovery and job creation. The data shows that George Bush's first administration had the most anemic job expansion in decades and actually saw negative net jobs created. We advocate four tax changes for small businesses that would postpone the timing of taxes and make it easier for small businesses to survive. As small businesses provide more than two-thirds of the net new jobs created each year, insuring their sustainability will go a long way to foster small business expansion and more job growth among suppliers. Currently a third of new small businesses fail within their first two years and the failure rate exceeds 60 percent by the end of the sixth year. These tax proposals for small businesses resemble “laser surgery” for the economy instead of the “chemotherapy” of tax cuts for the whole economy. These proposals focus where two-thirds or more of new jobs are created each year and will help small businesses manage their cash flow more effectively and encourage their long term sustainability. It is time for Congress to enact measures that help provide small businesses with a source of capital rather than draining them of the vital cash that they need. Such measures would not require government handouts or loans but, rather, would for the most part, merely entail postponing the taxation of business profits so long as those profits remained in the business to help insure its survival and growth.