Supporting America's Small Businesses

Republican National Committee ^ | June 21, 2004

[RWR8189]

Today's Action

• June 17, President Bush addressed small business owners from across the country at the National Small Business Summit of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) in Washington, DC. The President's policies are helping America's small businesses and workers; nearly 1 million jobs have been created in the last 100 days and more than 1.4 million new jobs have been created since August.
  
• Small businesses create 7 out of 10 new jobs in America and account for more than half of the output of our economy.

Background: The President's Policies are Helping America's Small Businesses

• President Bush recognizes that supporting America's small businesses is critical to ensuring continued job creation. There are nearly 8 million small businesses in the United States and they employ just over half of all workers. Small businesses owned by women are growing at more than twice the rate of businesses owned by men.
  
• The President has made tax relief for America's small business a key component of his economic program.
  
  • In 2004, 25 million small businesses will receive tax relief totaling about $75 billion.
    
  • The President's Jobs and Growth package reduced marginal income tax rates across the board, including the creation of a new 10-percent tax bracket and the reduction of the top rate to 35 percent. These rate reductions benefit the more than 90 percent of small businesses that pay taxes at the individual income tax rates, not the corporate rates.
    
  • The President's Jobs and Growth package also raised the amount that small businesses can expense for new capital investments from $25,000 to $100,000, reducing their cost of purchasing new machinery, computers, trucks, and other qualified investments.
    
  • The President supported and signed into law the phase-out of the Federal death tax, ensuring that family business owners are able to leave their business to their families or key employees.
    
• The President is committed to expanding markets for American products and services. America is the world's largest exporter, and America's small businesses are a large part of that success.
  
• U.S exports accounted for about 25 percent of our economic growth during the 1990s and support an estimated 12 million jobs. 
  
• Small and medium sized companies make up 97 percent of all exporters.
  
• The President has supported this growth by signing into law Trade Promotion Authority to expedite the adoption of trade agreements that open markets for American goods and services. The Bush Administration has signed or completed free trade agreement negotiations with 11 countries, including Australia, Morocco, Chile, Singapore, five countries of Central America, the Dominican Republic, and Bahrain.
  
• Small exporters benefit from these agreements. More than 6,000 small and medium-sized businesses export to Chile, more than 4,000 export to Costa Rica, and approximately 3,000 export to Honduras. In addition to reducing the tax burden and opening markets, the President is committed to reducing the costs of doing business in America.
  
  • The President has worked to make health care more affordable. The President has called for Association Health Plans (AHPs) to give America's working families greater access to affordable health insurance. By allowing small businesses to band together and negotiate on behalf of their employees and their families, AHPs would help small businesses and employees obtain health insurance at an affordable price, much like large employers and unions. The President has also signed into law health savings accounts (HSAs), which combine low-cost, high-deductible health insurance with tax-free savings accounts to pay for health care expenses. The President has also proposed to make insurance premiums for HSAs tax deductible.
    
  • The President is pushing Congress to pass legislation reducing frivolous lawsuits.
    
  • The President has proposed and called on Congress to adopt a National Energy Policy (NEP) to ensure that America has a reliable and affordable source of energy and to reduce our dependence on foreign sources.

[Van Jenerette]

...for your issue file.

[BlkConserv]

Bush needs to obliterate the tax code in his 2nd term. Taxes are still killing businesses. Pass a flat 20% income tax with just one or two exemptions and the economy will fly.

[eyespysomething]

23% I think is the number most quoted.

[TastyManatees]

Uh-huh. Four years of over-regulation by holdovers the White House hasn't had the guts to reign in, followed by six months of lip service. A brief honeymoon, followed by four more years of chasing elusive favorable headlines. Color me unimpressed.

I wouldn't get too excited about the small business angle.

[W04Man]

Bump

http://W-04.com