Gerlach Working to Create Jobs, Bolster Small Business

Press Release

Congressman Jim Gerlach (PA-6th District) on Thursday joined Congressman Mike Castle of Delaware in introducing legislation to provide a much-needed boost to small businesses and create jobs.

The Small Business Assistance and Relief Act focuses on letting small business owners keep more of their hard-earned money to hire workers, buy new equipment or expand their companies and spend less time filling out paperwork created by burdensome federal mandates. In addition, the legislation would reform Small Business Administration loan programs to create new opportunities and establish a direct lending capital backstop program.

"This legislation is based on the feedback I've been getting from small business owners throughout the district who are eager to create jobs and help turn our economy around," Gerlach said. "There is tremendous uncertainty among small business owners about whether the leaders in Washington are going to allow tax rates to rise at the end of the year and whether additional regulation of banks, credit unions and other financial institutions will make tighten the credit markets even further.

"This bill aims to create some certainty for the business community so that companies can begin hiring workers and making other decisions to spur our economy. The only thing we have to show for trillion-dollar spending packages and other big-government gimmicks enacted during the last 18 months are record budget deficits that will hamper future generations of entrepreneurs and small business owners and stifle private investment."

Here are more specifics about how the proposed legislation would work:

Keep Taxes Low

* Extend the research and development tax credit
* Raise the new business start-up deduction from $20,000 per year from the current $5,000 per year.
* Exclude 100 percent of the capital gains from the sale of certain small-business stock

The IRS shall extend the following tax-relief provisions for small businesses until December 31, 2011:

* 5-Year net operating loss carry back
* 15-year recovery period for qualified leasehold improvement property, qualified restaurant property, and qualified retail improvement property.
* Bonus/accelerated depreciation
* Enhanced Section 179 expensing limits

Reduce Regulatory Burden

* Ensure any federal regulation does not require a small business to spend more than 200 man-hours annually on paperwork, applications, or petitions
* Require a Government Accountability Office Report on each federal regulation to determine the burden that such regulation imposes on small business concerns

Ease Credit Crunch

* Increase loan size in the 7(a) program to $3 million from $2 million
* Create a direct lending Capital Backstop program
* Reform SBA procedures to encourage more participation by lenders
* Expand the micro-loan program

Source