Leveling the Playing Field for Small Businesses

Leveling the Playing Field for Small Businesses 775 500 Morris County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC)

Leveling the Playing Field for Small Businesses

 

A new report from Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices and the Bipartisan Policy Center offers a playbook on how to help grow the U.S. economy by tackling the most pressing challenges faced by our nation’s small businesses.

The Small Business Policy Playbook: Winning Strategies to Drive Economic Growth provides a policy strategy to unleash legislative efforts to level the playing field for small businesses, by giving them the tools to compete for workers, cut red tape, remove barriers that stall their success, and foster an environment to drive tech investment and innovation.

“We are proud to partner with the Bipartisan Policy Center to provide lawmakers on both sides of the aisle with actionable policy solutions to help level the playing field for small businesses,” said John F.W. Rogers, executive vice president of Goldman Sachs. “Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy and will help fuel economic opportunity, growth and prosperity.”

“Republicans and Democrats agree that meaningful economic growth requires a thriving small business sector,” said Margret Spellings, president and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center. “The Small Business Policy Playbook offers the 119th Congress and the incoming Trump administration clear legislative recommendations for bipartisan policies that they can enact to empower small businesses to access capital, innovate, and remain competitive in today’s rapidly evolving marketplace.”

The recommendations incorporate insights gathered directly from small business owners through extensive research. Key recommendations include:

Workforce: Competing for Qualified Workers

  • Benefits for Employees of Small Business: Amend the retirement startup credit and enhance the paid family leave tax credit to help small employers compete with larger corporations.
  • Access to Affordable Child Care: Update childcare tax credits and strengthen programs to expand the child care labor market in support of working parents.
  • Skills Training: Encourage partnerships between the Small Business Administration (SBA) resource partners and workforce programs to offset training costs and upskill workers.

Cost of Doing Business: Removing Financial Barriers

  • Access to Capital: Expand Small Business Investment Companies and revamp technical assistance for microloans and fintech financing solutions.
  • Tax Policy: Reinstate full R&D expensing and maintain successful small business tax incentives such as Section 179 expensing.
  • Regulatory Relief: Appoint and confirm a Chief Counsel for the SBA’s Office of Advocacy to ensure small businesses aren’t being held back by red tape.

Innovation and Opportunity: Sparking Growth

  • Technology Investment: Ensure resource providers, such as SBDCs, are equipped to offer training and guidance on digitalization and AI.
  • Federal Contracts: Further increase small business procurement goals and bolster outreach and technical assistance to prepare small businesses to compete for contracts.
  • Manufacturing and Exports: Expand access to capital for manufacturers and improve investment opportunities in small manufacturers through Small Business Investment Companies.

Article courtesy of New Jersey Business Magazine. 

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