President̢??‰?s Budget Blueprint Holds Promise for Small Business, Economy

The president̢??‰?s 2014 budget blueprint includes key provisions small businesses support and have long been asking for, such as closing tax loopholes that benefit the wealthy and large corporations, reducing corporate tax rates in a revenue-neutral manner, offering tax credits for small business hiring, and creating manufacturing, infrastructure and clean energy initiatives that can provide small businesses with economic opportunities and encourage job growth.

We̢??‰?re also pleased to see a proposal to end the across-the-board spending cuts known as the sequester, which would give small businesses the certainty they need during this tenuous economic time. Small Business Majority̢??‰?s scientific opinion polling shows America̢??‰?s primary job creators support many of the proposals in the president̢??‰?s budget, including:

• Eliminating loopholes for large corporations and gas and oil companies. Small Business Majority̢??‰?s opinion polling found small employers strongly support closing tax loopholes that benefit large corporations, gas and oil companies and hedge fund managers. They also support reducing the corporate tax rate while remaining revenue neutral by closing tax loopholes that favor large corporations.
• Boosting investments in infrastructure and clean energy. Our polling found nearly seven in 10 small employers support investing in infrastructure projects that would create jobs, and nearly nine in 10 believe improving innovation and energy efficiency are highly effective ways to increase prosperity for small businesses.
• Reducing the deficit in a balanced way and ending ̢???sequestration.̢???? Polling shows small businesses want a long-term solution to our budget crisis, but believe it should be balanced and that the most important job for Congress and the president is to institute a plan to create jobs, rather than a plan to reduce the deficit.

However, our polling also shows small businesses support preserving Social Security. They don̢??‰?t want to see cuts to this program as a way to reduce the deficit because consumers and small business owners will have less money to spend, which would negatively affect the economy and small businesses̢??‰? bottom lines. Cuts could undermine small business owners̢??‰? economic wellbeing and our burgeoning recovery and should be left out of any final budget deal.

Our economy is in recovery mode, but it̢??‰?s fragile. Small businesses need a pragmatic blueprint that provides certainty and opportunities for the future. It̢??‰?s time for lawmakers to put partisan differences aside and hammer out a final budget deal that instates smart small business-friendly policies that help our job creators do what they do best: put America to work.