- John Kerry's Plan for Business
-
-
- The Bush operation continues to employ its strategy of false
accusations and over simplification.
Don’t let the GOP’s spin tactics obscure Bush’s
negative record on small business or sully John Kerry’s excellent
support for our community.
-
- As business leaders, we understand that intelligent decisions must
be based on facts and figures, rather than hearsay and rumors.
John Kerry has a plan to promote small business and here is
why.
-
- As the former Chairman and current Ranking Member of the Senate
Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, John Kerry has been a
national leader in promoting small businesses growth.
John Kerry owned his own small business, a cookie and muffin
shop called Kilvert and Forbes that he opened in 1979 with a friend
in
Boston
's Quincy Market, giving him first-hand experience with the
obstacles faced by small business owners.
As president, John Kerry will bring to the White House both
the lessons he learned from owning and working in a small business
and his leadership in fighting to support small businesses in the
Senate.
-
- Cut Health Care Costs By Two-Thirds for Small Businesses.
Health care costs are rising about 15% this year on average
for small businesses. Just 62% of businesses employing 10 to 49
people offered a health plan in 2002, whereas about 99 percent of
large firms did. As President, Kerry will propose refundable tax
credits for up to 50% of the cost of coverage to small businesses
and their employees. He will also give small businesses access to
the Congressional Health Plan to save them approximately 15% in
health care costs on top of the tax credit.
-
- Reduce Medical
Malpractice Premiums. To reduce
frivolous claims, Kerry will require that a qualified specialist
certifies a medical malpractice case's merit before it is allowed to
move forward. He will also work with states to ensure the
availability of non-binding mediation in all malpractice claims
before cases proceed to trial. Kerry will make the system fairer for
doctors and patients alike by preventing and punishing frivolous
lawsuits. Lawyers who file frivolous cases would face tough,
mandatory sanctions, including a “three strikes and you're out”
provision that forbids lawyers who file three frivolous cases from
bringing another suit for the next 10 years. Kerry also opposes
punitive damages - unless intentional misconduct, gross negligence,
or reckless indifference to life can be established. Finally, Kerry
will work to eliminate the special privileges that allow insurance
companies to fix prices and collude in ways that increase medic al
malpractice premiums.
-
-
- Strengthen
America
's Base Of Small Manufacturers. During
the last three years, 2.7 million - or one in every seven -
manufacturing jobs have been lost nationwide. Both large and small
companies have been hurt. To help strengthen America's small
manufacturers, Kerry plans to increase loan and investment limits,
develop a three-tier manufacturing skills training program for
current workers, college, and high school students, increase funding
for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program, and create an
Office of Manufacturing at the Small Business Administration.
-
- A Big Voice For Small
Business. Over the past two years,
the number of small businesses that have closed has been greater
than the number founded. As President, Kerry will give small
business a cabinet level position, give small business a voice at
the World Trade Organization to ensure that small businesses are
considered in trade issues, and ensure that federal regulations are
fair for small business.
-
- Eliminate Capital
Gains Taxes For Long-Term Investments In Small Businesses.
Small, entrepreneurial firms often have difficulty
attracting capital because of the high degree of risk involved. As
President, Kerry will exempt investments held for five or more years
in small businesses - a proposal that would cost $6 billion over ten
years.
-
- Create a New Jobs Tax
Credit For Small Businesses That Create Jobs.
Research has demonstrated that new jobs tax credits increase
employment. Kerry’s New Jobs Tax Credit will cover an employer's
share of payroll expenses for net new jobs created by small
businesses in 2005 and 2006.
-
- Enact A New
"Small Business Retirement Initiative" To Help Small
Businesses Offer Retirement Plans. Start-up
costs are the biggest impediment for small businesses in starting a
pension plan. Setting up a small business pension plan can cost as
much as $20,000 or more. The Kerry plan will use tax credits to help
offset the start-up costs of pension plans for small businesses.
Kerry also supports a pension pooling fund to help pool the
administrative costs of setting up pensions and savings plans for
small businesses.
-
- Tax Simplification For
Small Businesses. Kerry plans to
simplify tax filing for small businesses, including allowing the IRS
and state agencies to combine - on one form - both State and Federal
employment tax returns.
-
- Helping Micro-Enterprises. The Kerry-Edwards plan will
expand loans and equity for businesses with operations with five or
fewer employees and revenues under $500,000.
-
- Accessing Capital. Venture capital funding has declined
under Bush, leaving many businesses without a source of equity
financing. The Kerry plan will bridge this gap by increasing the
federal government's venture capital investments.
-
- Increasing Loans. Bush has consistently shortchanged
funding for loan programs to small businesses. Kerry plans to expand
loan programs to help more small businesses get off the ground.
-
- A Fair Share In
Federal Contracting For Small Businesses. The
federal government is the largest buyer of goods and services in the
world. Too often, small businesses are denied access to the federal
marketplace through practices such as contract “bundling,” which
turns small contracts into big contracts that are harder for small
businesses to compete for. Bush pledged to end contract bundling,
but has not. In October, the Office of Management and Budget issued
a report that showed that the number and size of bundled contracts
has reached a 10-year high. The Kerry plan will provide small
businesses with more opportunities for government contracting and
work with federal agencies to reduce contract bundling.
-
- Increase The Share of
Federal Contracts For Small Businesses. Under
President Bush, the small business share of federal contracts has
decreased by 14% despite the fact that total federal contracts have
increased by 7%. Kerry
plans to increase the number of federal contracts that go to small
business by increasing the government-wide goal for small business's
share of federal contracts to 30%.
-
- Tax Credits To Reduce
Energy Costs.
America
's small businesses account for more than half of all energy
consumption in
North America
. The growth and development of small businesses depends on an
affordable and reliable energy supply. To help small business owners
reduce their utility bills, Kerry plans to provide a credit to
purchase equipment that meets energy-efficiency standards for
heating and cooling in new buildings and to retrofit existing ones.
It also provides a 20% tax credit for the purchase of
energy-efficient building equipment, including electric heat pumps,
hot water heaters, and natural gas heat pumps.
-
- Tax Credits For
Called-Up Reservists. With so many
reservists serving in
Iraq
, Kerry believes that we need to provide support to small businesses
whose reservists are called up for active duty. The Kerry plan will
provide small businesses that employ called-up reservists with
thousands of dollars in tax breaks.
-
-
- Why Bush Has Failed:
- The Bush administration's recently released 2004 federal budget is
a travesty for small business. In the whopping $2.4 trillion budget,
the Small Business Administration gets a measly $678.4 million — a
decrease of $119.5 million, or 15%, from last year's already low
level.
-
- Entirely eliminates the Microloan Program.
New programs, such as the Microloan Program that the
president wants to eliminate, made it easier for an entrepreneur to
get a loan for less than $100,000. Last year, for instance, the
Microloan Program provided small businesses with 2,400 loans,
totaling $26 million. These loans averaged a tiny $10,500.
-
- 76,864 Pennsylvanian
families filed for bankruptcy last year up 37% from 2000
-
- 161,200 manufacturing and 73,900 private sector jobs have been
lost in
Pennsylvania
over the last four years (1,800,000 lost private sector jobs
nationwide)
-
- The number of
Pennsylvanians in poverty has increased by 140,000 since Bush came
to the White House
-
- Job growth in
America
has fallen short of Bush's prediction for ten of the past twelve
months.
-
- Median family income has dropped by $1,511 since Bush took office
-
- Family health insurance premiums in
Pennsylvania
have increased by $2,756 to $9,477 and 337,000
Pennsylvanians have lost health insurance
-
|
Enter
Your E-mail address to Receive OpEdNews
Newsletter