Cantor pushes JOBS Act and 20 percent small business tax cut

By Norman Leahy | Monday, February 27th, 2012 | Policy, Politics, Virginia

This week in Congress, House majority leader Eric Cantor and a bipartisan group of lawmakers will introduce a package of bills aimed at stimulating growth and capital formation for small businesses. In a Fox News appearance, Cantor had this to say about the initiative, the payroll tax cut and the obstacles the White House and Senate Democrats have put in the way of, well, just about everything:

The JOBS Act dovetails with the sentiments of AOL founder, and President’s Council on Jobs and Economic Competitiveness member, Steve Case:

“Now is the time for everybody to step up…It’s time to recognize the importance of getting something done.”

And here’s the opportunity to make it happen.

The second measure Cantor intends to push is a 20 percent tax cut for small businesses. On that point specifically, Cantor said:

“We’ll bring forward a bill that provides a tax cut for small businesses, again, knowing full well that small businesses create more than 60 percent of the jobs in this country. … We know that overwhelmingly the number of folks who are business people in this country file as individuals. We want to help the small businesses as defined by the Small Business Administration – that’s 500 employees or less. Those entities will be allowed a 20 percent tax cut straight to the bottom line, and that’s what we want to do is make it easier for them to start up.”

We can argue about the specifics, but it’s clear that both the House and the administration’s own Jobs Committee see the need for the federal government to make it easier for small businesses to grow.

The question becomes whether Senate Democrats and the White House will agree. According to this Roll Call piece, some Republicans seem less than convinced anything will happen:

…several Republicans said privately they are pessimistic the Senate will act on any House-passed bills dealing with the economy.

That’s a good reading of history, as the “Jobs Tracker” page on Cantor’s website illustrates how many pro-growth measures the House has passed, only to have the Senate refuse to act. Maybe those worthies will get to all of these bills at some point. But that’s about as likely as the Senate getting around to passing a budget (a responsibility it has managed to avoid for over three years).

Still, Cantor and his colleagues from both sides of the House aisle — and inside the President’s Jobs Committee — should press ahead. It may seem a Sisyphean task, but the more active the House is in trying to address economic growth, the more embarrassing the Senate’s intransigence becomes.

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