:: 01.03 :: |
| US: Taking Action to Strengthen Small Businesses |
Small businesses represent
more than 99 percent of all employers, and employ more than half the
private work force. Small business entrepreneurs create more than
two out of every three new jobs and generate about 50 percent of the
nation's gross domestic product. Nearly 40 percent of small
businesses are owned by women. Close to 15 percent of America’s
small business owners are minorities – and the trend of minority
ownership is accelerating. More than three million minority-owned
small businesses are providing job opportunities for millions of Americans
in thousands of communities across America.
The President is committed
to creating an environment where small businesses can flourish. Under
the President’s economic plan, entrepreneurs will be able to
devote more resources to developing products, growing businesses,
and hiring more employees.
A cornerstone of the President’s
plan -- accelerating tax reductions that were enacted in the 2001
tax act -- would provide small business owners with much needed assistance.
Two thirds of taxpayers who pay the highest marginal tax rates are
small business owners who include their profits when they file their
individual tax returns. All together, under the President’s
jobs and growth plan, 23 million small business owners would receive
tax cuts averaging $2,042 this year.
The President’s plan
would increase the amount of money small business owners can deduct
from their taxes for investment in new equipment, such as machinery
and computers. Right now, the maximum deduction is $25,000. The President’s
plan would triple that to $75,000 beginning in 2003, and adjust it
for inflation thereafter.
The President's plan to abolish
the double tax on dividends will help businesses to grow and create
jobs by reducing the cost of capital. Most dividends received by shareholders
will be tax free. Small businesses that retain corporate earnings
will not face capital gains taxes on the increase in the value of
the firm from retained earnings that could have been distributed as
dividends. This will benefit the owners of 4.1 million small businesses
with less than $500,000 in assets, as well as the shareholders of
all 4.9 million C corporations.
The President has also proposed
making permanent the elimination of the death tax, which will provide
certainty for families that want to transfer their family-owned small
businesses, farms, and ranches from one generation to the next.
The President will also continue
to work to streamline small business regulations and to call on Congress
to enact legal reform to curtail the frivolous lawsuits that impose
unfair costs on small businesses and their customers.
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| Fonte: whitehouse.gov |