September 29, 2004
Popular Tax Cut Provisions Extended
With bipartisan support, Congress passed legislation last week that would extend some of last year’s more popular tax breaks aimed at the middle class that were set to expire next year. The legislation will extend the $1,000-per-child tax credit, rather than letting it slip back to $700, decrease the marriage penalty by raising the threshold income from $110,000 to $150,000 by 2010, and expand the 10 percent tax bracket through 2010.
Another key provision is the extension for a year, through 2005, the increase in the amount of income exempt from the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), to $40,250 for individuals and $58,000 for couples. The Alternative Minimum Tax is a tax which was designed to make certain those with high incomes do not use special tax advantages to pay little or no taxes. However, in recent years the AMT is increasingly affecting the middle class.
These extensions, as well as several others included in the legislation, will cost approximately $146 billion over ten years. Though this tax package passed the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate by a large margin, many have expressed concerns over the cost and effect on the ever growing deficit.
|
NASE President to Offer Tax Advising Tips to Counselors
Supporting Small Business Development Centers across the county, NASE president and Certified Public Accountant Robert Hughes will offer tax strategies to counselors in daily contact with entrepreneurs and start-up business owners this week.
Hughes’s seminar falls during the Association of Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC) annual conference, and underscore the NASE’s commitment to offering support, education and resources to micro-business owners. Over 1,000 counselors from the 63 development centers across the country will attend the conference, to gain exposure to the latest thinking and the most advanced tools to assist today's entrepreneurs.
This will be the second presentation Hughes has provided in the past two years at the conference.
“The NASE recognizes the important role Small Business Development Centers can play, with their one-on-one counseling and various seminars, in assisting a micro-business owner in starting and growing their business,” Hughes said.
For more information, or to find a lead center near you, visit http://www.asbdc-us.org.
SBA Bill Would Reauthorize Agency for Two Years
In an effort to resolve differences that have held up reauthorizing the U.S. Small Business Administration for a year, the chairs of the House and Senate Small Business committees introduced legislation last week to extend the federal agency and fund some of its most important programs, at least for the next two years.
Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Representative Don Manzullo (R-IL) compromised on their different approaches to operating the SBA, and introduced the Small Business Reauthorization and Manufacturing Assistance Act of 2004 (H.R. 5108 and S. 2821). The bill preserves the popular 7(a) loan guarantee program by setting a $16.5 billion authorization level, and making permanent lender fees, so that they cannot increase further.
“As the economy continues to recover and grow, it is essential that Congress send a message that affirms long-term stability in the programs the SBA provides to the small business community,” Sen. Snowe said.
In addition, the bill extends the Small Business Development Centers, and assistance programs for women and minority owned businesses. Each of the legislation’s provisions extend existing law and programs, or fund initiatives previously passed by the Senate or House Small Business Committee, creating a bill that could pass both chambers as early as next week.
“This legislation reauthorizes the programs of the Small Business Administration while preserving and strengthening the SBA’s most popular programs - the 7(a) and 504 loan guarantee programs,” Rep. Manzullo said.
H.R. 1873 and S. 2433 Update
Three members of the House of Representatives signed-on as new co-sponsors of legislation that addresses the NASE priority issue for 2004: eliminating the self-employment tax on health insurance premiums. H.R. 1873 now has 67 co-sponsors in Congress, and the Senate companion bill, S. 2433, has three.
“It is a complicated issue to explain to someone who has never filed taxes as a sole proprietor,” said Kristie Darien, NASE director of government affairs. “But it boils down easily to one word: equality. The self-employed simply are not treated equally in the tax code, and H.R. 1873 and S. 2433 go a long way in correcting that.”
The NASE joins the Coalition Supporting Equity for Our Nation’s Self-Employed in thanking the cosponsors in the House and Senate for recognizing that the payment of self-employment tax on health premiums adds another penalty on top of increasing premium rates.
Visit the NASE Legislative Action Center at http://advoacy.nase.org and type in your zip code on the lower right-hand side to see if your legislators cosponsor this important issue. If they do, send an email showing your appreciation. If not, then forward one of the NASE prewritten letters on the issue encouraging them to support H.R. 1873 and S. 2433.
|
