The U.S. Senate is considering legislation that would attempt to boost the economic recovery by way of tax breaks for businesses. Senator Charles Schumer is a big booster of the bill.
Schumer says the idea is to get businesses to hire more people and invest more money in their facilities. He expectsthe Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Bill of 2012 to do that by allowing businesses to write off 100% of the cost of purchasing new equipment or other capital investment. This varies from current law, which spreads the write-off out over several years.
“This is one of the most bang-for-the-buck tax breaks we can give small businesses. It’s estimated that for every $1 of tax cuts, devoted to writing off the cost of a business’s purchases, we get about $9 of GDP growth,” Schumer said.
The other part of the legislation would offer businesses 10% tax credits for any new workers hired. Schumer says that would add up to $3,745 per employee hired in Central New York alone.
“I’m hopeful it can get bipartisan support. After all, it’s a tax break and our Republican colleagues have generally supported tax breaks to small businesses. But most important, we hope it can pass, hire people and help our small businesses grow,” Schumer said.
However, Thursday afternoon Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives passed their own bill intended to give tax breaks to small businesses. The Democrat-controlled Senate is not expected to take up that bill.
