Wednesday, April 6th 2011, 4:00 AM
Handschuh/News
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is promoting the Small Business Savings Account Act.Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is throwing her weight behind local small businesses.
Noting that small businesses create half of all new jobs across the state, New York's junior senator laid out an agenda for boosting entrepreneurship that includes federal grants for small business incubators, tax-free savings accounts for business owners and tax credits to promote small business investment.
"Government doesn't create jobs, businesses do," Gillibrand said. "We need to be doing much more."
Gillibrand's proposed legislation comes against the backdrop of continued high unemployment in both the state and New York City.
Even as the economy has improved, some 800,000 New York State residents are still out of work, with 370,000 of them living in New York City. As of February, the unemployment rate in the state was 8.7%. In the city, it was 9.4%.
A key focus for Gillibrand are incubators - programs that foster early-stage small businesses. Under her agenda, incubators that provide a lift to businesses in high-growth sectors, such as technology, would be eligible for federal grants of up to $5 million.
"Every $10,000 invested in business incubators has the potential to create up to nearly 70 new local jobs," she said.
The proposed incubator program would cost an estimated $250 million in the first year.
Under the Small Business Savings Account Act, which Gillibrand is co-sponsoring, entrepreneurs could save up to $10,000 a year tax-free for their businesses.
She's also proposing legislation that would provide a 25% tax credit to spur private investors to fund emerging small businesses in promising areas that include advanced manufacturing, aerospace, biotechnology, clean energy and transportation.
Qualified small businesses could receive $2 million per year in a tax credit-eligible cash equity investment, of which no more than $1 million may come from one single investor.
Mark Jaffe, CEO of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce, said Gillibrand's proposals match the needs of local small business owners.
"Listening to the almost 18,000 business and civic leaders in the Greater New York Chamber's database, we believe that federal grants and incentives will help small local businesses and not-for-profits take the chances that will let them create jobs," he said.
"At a time when corporate America is laying off people, government incentives to create jobs is just what is needed."
No comments:
Post a Comment