The
best way to stay informed with current State and Federal business
is to stay on top of what others are doing that can impact your
business. Below are some links that are recommended to keep you
abreast of information that impact women and business.
NAWBO
is an affiliate of Women Impacting Public Policy. WIPP: A national
bipartisan public policy organization, advocating on behalf of
women and minorities in business, strengthening their sphere of
influence in the legislative process of our nation, creating economic
opportunities, and building bridges and alliances to other small
business organizations. You'll find a wealth of information at
www.wipp.org.
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.
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.
He is using this authority to open markets throughout the globe. 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
2004, 25 million small businesses received tax relief totaling
about $75 billion.
The
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
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
Federal death tax was phased out, ensuring that family
business owners are able to leave their business to their families
or key employees.
The
Association Health Plans (AHPs) are called 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.
Regulatory
relief is being urged to ensure that Federal regulations
do not unduly handicap America's entrepreneurs by streamlining
regulations and reducing paperwork
All
the tax relief enacted over the past three years, including the
tax relief benefiting America's small businesses, is scheduled
to expire over the next several years. Raising taxes on small businesses
will hurt economic growth and job creation.
In
2005, the expanded 10-percent bracket will sunset,
increasing the tax burden millions of owners of flow-through
businesses.
In
2006, allowable small business expensing will shrink from
$100,000 to just $25,000, increasing the cost of capital investments
for America's small businesses -- thus subjecting them to a
higher top tax rate than corporations could face.
In
2011, the rate relief and other tax relief enacted
over the past three years will sunset, resulting in a tax increase
for every small business that pays taxes as an S corporation,
a partnership, or a sole proprietorship.
In
2011, the death tax returns, threatening the ability
of family farms and businesses to survive from generation to
generation and increasing the costs of estate planning for
their owners.
WIPP Helps The SBA Change
Its Thinking
Our
coalition partner WIPP (Women Impacting Public Policy) had asked
for member comments on the SBA changing its rules on the designation "small
business":
In
response to comments filed by WIPP, its partners, and other
supporting usiness groups, the SBA, today, has withdrawn
their proposed rules that would have changed the standards
by which a business is designated a "small" business
for the purposes of Federal procurement programs. WIPP believed
that proposed rule would not achieve the intended result,
but rather, if implemented, would have added a layer of complexity
to the size standards and would have had the unintended effect
of adversely impacting small business. We were concerned
that the proposed rule, if adopted, could result in tens
of thousands of businesses losing their small business eligibility
for Federal Government programs.
WIPP's
procurement committee worked hard to provide its response
to the SBA. Thank you to all that participated and congratulations
to all women business owners.
Terry
Neese and Barbara Kasoff
WIPP Cofounders
Following
is the SBA announcement ...
SBA
to Revisit Size Standard Proposal
Agency Responds to Customer Comments by Re-Examining Rule
WASHINGTON – The
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) today announced that
it is withdrawing proposed rules that would have changed the
standards by which a business is designated ‘small’ for
the purposes of government programs.
“Administrator
Barreto has worked hard to make the SBA more like the small businesses
it serves every day, and that means being responsive to our customers,” SBA
Associate Deputy Administrator for Government Contracting Allegra
McCullough said. “That is why we have decided to revisit
this issue. All new rules have a 60 day comment period. Because
we knew this issue was so important to America’s small
business owners, we actually extended that period to 105 days.
During that time, we strongly encouraged our small business customers
to contact us with their thoughts on the revisions. They did
just that, and what they told us was, ‘good intention,
good idea, but needs a little more work.’
“We
are here to serve those small business owners, and we take their
concerns very seriously,” McCullough continued. “That
is why we are going to step back and study this rule further.
There is no doubt that our current system of size standards is
in need of simplification, but we want to make absolutely sure
that we do it in the right way. This issue is important to our
mission, and it’s important to America’s small business
owners.”
