All eyes are on the 110th Congress, but small businesses will be paying particularly close attention to legislation in the works that could impact their bottom lines.
Small business owners could see several significant reforms under the first Democratic-controlled Congress since 1994, noted Dr. Chad Moutray, chief economist for the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration.
Issues such as health care, loan programs and tax reforms for small business, as well as the minimum wage, all may be addressed on Capitol Hill this year.
Health Insurance
Health care costs for small business have been a challenge for some time, of course. But when Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry was named chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship in November, he pledged to find coverage for the 27 million people who work for small businesses. According to Kerry, health insurance pools, where small businesses can purchase insurance policies in groups, may be the most likely short-term solution.Loans
Kerry also promised to fight to preserve government guaranteed loan programs at the SBA that have seen a decrease in federal funding in recent years, including the 7(a) lending program, the Microloan program, Small Business Development Centers and Women’s Business Centers.Taxes
Although experts agree that it is unlikely that the Democrats will make any major moves in the next two years that would unravel President Bush’s tax strategy, it is highly possible that small businesses may get some tax relief in the near future.Minimum Wage
A possible blow to small business: Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s promise that boosting the federal minimum wage will be one of the first things the Democrats do.As a result of the new law, small firms could be forced to raise prices, cut hiring or slash the hours of the low-wage workers the legislation is supposed to help.
A hike won’t have that big of an impact on small business owners since 23 states have already enacted statutes boosting their minimum-wage rates above the federal rate.
Photo by QuidnuncQuixot.
Tony on January 8th, 2007 at 1:47 am
As we all know having a small business the tax always stings you and hard at that but what i want to know is this legistation a good thing or a bad thing can we believe anything the people above have to say.