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Economic Solutions That Create Jobs
Posted by Randy | September 15, 2010
According to a recent survey of small business owners by Citigroup Inc., only 17% had plans to hire additional employees. When our nation’s small businesses – who employee half of our nation’s private work force – are not hiring, it impedes economic growth.

Washington needs to abandon deficit spending and stimulus quick-fixes and instead return to economic principles that promote recovery and encourage the creation of much-needed new jobs. There are several steps that Congress can take that would create jobs and spur innovation:

Make tax cuts permanent. Implementing lasting tax cuts will help to restore economic freedom in the United States and put our country on the path to a brighter future. I have cosponsored the Economic Freedom Act (H.R. 5029), which would reduce taxes for American businesses and families.

Decrease burdensome regulations on small businesses. In our current economic situation, we must show our small businesses that we support them by continuing pro-growth policies like lowering taxes, simplifying the tax code, and reducing burdensome regulations.

Develop lasting energy solutions. We need a bold initiative that will encourage investment in new forms of energy, thus ending our dependence on oil and creating thousands of new energy jobs for Americans. I have introduced the New Manhattan Project for Energy Independence, which would create a national challenge for lasting energy solutions.

Lower the debt. Our national debt is expected to reach 93.1% of our GDP this year. Economic experts say even a 1 percent increase in GDP can create almost one million jobs. We must make a commitment to decreasing the national debt, which is why I have introduced a bill to cut government spending by 40% over the next five years.

What other solutions do you have that would help create jobs for American families?
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Job Killing vs. Job Creating Principles
Posted by Randy | August 17, 2010

Job-Killing Principles

Spend what you do not have. Runaway stimulus and bailout spending has caused our national debt to reach record levels, allowing it to be financed by China and giving China leverage on the global stage.

Increase energy taxes. Cap-and-trade energy bills like the ones currently before Congress create a national energy tax that would increase energy costs and kill jobs while unemployment stands at almost 10 percent.

Raise taxes on small business and American families. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that the economy lost 131,000 jobs in July. 15 million Americans are trying to find work. Raising taxes in the midst of a struggling economy would be detrimental to small businesses and further cripple the economy.



Job Creating Principles

Make tax cuts permanent. Implementing lasting tax cuts will help to restore economic freedom in the United States and put our country on the path to a brighter future. The Economic Freedom Act (H.R. 5029), which I have cosponsored, would reduce taxes for American businesses and families.

Decrease burdensome regulations on small businesses. Small business and entrepreneurs are the cornerstone of our nation's economy. In our current economic situation, it is ever more critical that we support our small businesses by continuing pro-growth policies like lowering taxes, simplifying the tax code, and reducing burdensome regulations.

Lower the debt. Our national debt is expected to reach 93.1% of our GDP this year. Economic experts say even a 1 percent increase in GDP can create almost one million jobs. A commitment to decreasing the debt is a job-creating principle, which is why I have introduced a bill to cut government spending by 40% over the next five years.

 
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More Small Business Expenses Created by the Healthcare Overhaul
Posted by Randy | May 21, 2010

Small businesses are on the hook for $17 billion dollars of paperwork expenses as a result of the healthcare overhaul. Requirements state that they must fill out an IRS form for every expenditure over $600 dollars. Here’s a look at exactly how that requirement will impact our small businesses:

 

  • Form 1099 today applies only to independent contractors, e.g. a graphic artist who earns $1,000 for designing a sales brochure. Come 2012, healthcare overhaul will vastly expand 1099s to sellers of goods as well as services, and not just the self-employed, but also businesses – large and small.

 

  • Imagine that a small company sacrifices the equivalent of just two hours each month to perform these calculations and file 1099s at tax season. Every year, this would cost – get this – $1,776.

 

  • Many struggling businesses would waste even more money on this fresh headache. Every dollar spent to spew out 1099s is one less dollar that could pay new employees, train existing staffers, or develop new products, services, and markets.

 

  • Over ten years, this measure would extract $17 billion from the jugulars of America’s already anemic small businesses.

 

  • Atop this, the Galen Institute’s Grace-Marie Turner reports that the healthcare overhaul will require employers to evaluate their health plans’ affordability by calculating each employee’s household income, not just that worker’s individual wages. This likely will involve, at a minimum, collecting income declarations from every staff member.

 

Facts courtesy of the Republican Study Committee.
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Committed to Our Small Businesses
Posted by Randy | April 28, 2010
I am honored to have received this week the "Spirit of the Enterprise" award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  The Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than three million businesses across the nation. They give the award to Members of Congress each session of Congress for a strong voting record on small business issues.

This award is particularly important to me this year as we face an especially challenging fiscal and economic situation in the U.S. Now more than ever, it is important that lawmakers in Washington make a concerted effort to support our nation's small businesses, which employee half of our nation’s private work force. Small businesses have always been the backbone of our economy, and I am committed to continuing to look for ways to strengthen and support them through tax relief and other pro-growth policies.

Read more about my work on small business issues here or read more about the Spirit of the Enterprise Award here.
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The Engine of Our Economy
Posted by Randy | March 12, 2010

Our nation’s small businesses employee half of our nation’s private work force. Yet, when it comes to economic recovery, lawmakers in Washington have largely brushed aside this important engine of our economy and focused instead on bailing out large corporations.  

Small businesses have always been the backbone of our economy, and any sustainable economic recovery must be focused on encouraging and motivating business owners to create jobs and spur innovation.  

Any small business owner can tell you that the most costly expenditures for a business are start-up expenses. Currently, the maximum tax deduction available to small businesses for start-up expenses is limited to $5000, leaving additional expenses to be written off over a longer period of time.  

At a time when accessing capital is extremely challenging, we need to focus on solutions that provide more money to small businesses through tax breaks.

I've cosponsored the Small Business Formation and Job Creation Act, which would increase the maximum deduction for business start-up expenses from $5,000 to $20,000. 

This tax break sends a clear message that it is our American business owners – not bureaucrats in Washington – that will create new jobs and put us on the path to economic recovery.
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