By Victoria Mullen, WKTV
Senator Stabenow Introduces Legislation to Help Small Businesses Grow
U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) has introduced legislation, the Growing Small Businesses Act, which would provide a tax cut to a small business planning to grow and expand. The bill provides a 25-percent tax credit for the cost of buildings and equipment for a business’s first commercial production facility.
“My bill provides a tax cut that will make it easier for bakers, brewers, software companies, and other small businesses across Michigan to take that next step to expand their business,” said Senator Stabenow
Since the 1970s, small businesses have created 55 percent of all new jobs but scaling up is one of the most expensive hurdles for a business. Stabenow’s legislation supports businesses that are in the process of getting off the ground, as well as businesses that have started small and want to expand from an incubator or home into their first facility.
Why is the Federal Government making it more difficult for hardworking Americans to plan for retirement?
Go here to watch the video.
House Financial Services Capital Markets, Securities, and Investment Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga (R-MI) led a hearing to examine the impact of the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule on the capital markets. The primary focus of the hearing was to discuss the unintended consequences of the fiduciary rule on the U.S. capital markets, the need for that rule to be delayed, and the need for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to act as the lead agency on this issue moving forward.
Key Takeaways from the Hearing:
- The Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule will raise costs, and reduce access to retirement advice for Americans with low and middle incomes. It is creating an excessively complicated and increasingly burdensome regulatory environment, which ultimately will only benefit plaintiff’s attorneys.
- The rule must be delayed in order to prevent further disruptions to the capital markets and access to retirement advice for low and middle income Americans.
- The SEC is the expert regulator when it comes to the U.S. capital markets, the market participants and the products in which they sell. Broker-dealers should be subject to a “best interest” standard as proposed in Ms. Wagner’s bill, and the SEC should be the regulator responsible for implementing and enforcing such standard.
