Revitalizing Small Business

It is difficult to overstate the importance of small businesses to our economy. Small businesses are companies with 500 or fewer employees. These businesses account for 50 percent of GDP and more than half of employment. 65 percent of new jobs came from small businesses over the past 15 years. 20 percent of jobs are from companies with 20 employees or less. Government can help fuel this essential engine of economic growth.

Three of the main roadblocks impeding small business:

Poor access to loans;
High health care costs – on average 18% more than for large firms; and
Poor support for research & development

Improve Access to Loans

Because many banks are pulling back from making loans to small businesses, Dan supports legislation that would allow the government to temporarily provide credit to small business. The government can accomplish this by providing guarantees for loans made to small business, and by providing incentives for community banks to lend to small business.

Lower Health Care Costs

Regarding health care costs, while larger firms enjoy economies of scale and a corresponding reduction in health insurance premiums, small businesses pay on average 18 percent more per worker. Small businesses give scale to our economy itself, and deserve to be allowed to pool their risk with other similarly situated employers so they can get group rates and greater choice. That will not only lower the cost of business, but it will also lower the cost to hire new employees.

Research and Development

Finally, as a group, small businesses produce a disproportionate number of patents for our country. This is exactly the kind of innovation that will make us competitive long into the future. For that reason, Dan advocates stronger incentives to improve America’s research competitiveness. Dan would like to make the Research and Development Tax Credit, which must currently be renewed every two years, permanent. That way small businesses—and all businesses—would have a strong and steady incentive to invest in their future, and our own.