No. 1: Excluding the self-employed from health-care tax breaks
The new health-care law extended the use of cafeteria plans to small businesses with fewer than 100 employees. Cafeteria plans allow employees to choose and pay for health benefits with pre-tax dollars, which can result in as much as a 30% savings. But the new law failed to eliminate the requirement that all cafeteria plan participants be “employees.” This precludes participation by the self-employed, which comprises 25% of the working population, according to the Kelly Services staffing firm.
No. 2: Continues to stall on Small Business Lending Fund
It was early 2009 when the first proposal was floated to use $30 billion of the TARP money that bailed-out banks had paid back to the government to create a Small Business Lending Fund. The money would be used to address the severe credit crunch that continues to constrict small businesses. It took until mid-March 2010 for a formal proposal to emerge. Despite widespread, lip-service support in Congress, debate has only just begun. According to the NBSA’s 2009 Year-End Economic Report, 39% of small businesses cannot obtain adequate financing.
No. 3: Won’t extend popular loosening of SBA loans, fees
When the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed into law in February 2009, it included a temporary provision that eliminated borrower fees on the SBA’s popular 7(a) and 504 loan programs. It also temporarily raised the limit of an SBA loan guarantee to 90% of the borrowed money , up from 75%. These provisions have run out and been extended several times since then, rendering many small businesses unable to access critical SBA loan funds on a continual basis. Several attempts to add a more permanent extension through 2010 have failed, though a bill to do so has been introduced.
Full story: Eight Ways Congress Is Stifling Main Street – FoxSmallBusinessCenter.com