New Tax Resource Center for Small Businesses

The Small Business Administration has developed a new resource center which connects entrepreneurs with tax management tools and strategies.   The new Economic Stimulus Package for small businesses is listed along with the depreciation calculator, which provides and estimate of the first year depreciation available under the provisions of the Stimulus Package.

Senate Approves $101 Million Budget Increase for Small Business Programs

WASHINGTON, June 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/

Today the Senate passed a Budget Resolution that supports $101 million in additional funding for small business programs that will benefit America’s entrepreneurs. Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and  Entrepreneurship, worked with the leaders of the Budget Committee to secure the budget increase for the Small Business Administration (SBA), which adds $101 million over the President’s request for 2009.

The budget blueprint provides increased funding for Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business Centers, microloans, contracting assistance, veterans outreach programs, and technical assistance programs, and increases loan oversight while reducing oversight fees paid by lenders.

    “We’re working to create jobs and steer our economy out of this slowdown,” said Senator Kerry. “The best way to do that is by investing in small businesses, which create more than two-thirds of all jobs and employ over half of our workforce. For the second year in a row, the Democratic-led Congress has acted to reverse the Bush Administration’s drastic cuts to small business programs. This budget shows our commitment to expanding the reach of small business financing programs, increasing the number of small businesses that can get business training, and unbundling contracts so small firms have a fair shot at doing business with the federal government.”

    “I am so pleased that the Senate today approved a budget resolution that includes a long-overdue funding increase for the Small Business Administration,” said Senator Snowe. “It is critical that the
Appropriations Committee and full Senate act expeditiously to approve the funding included in the budget blueprint in forthcoming spending bills.  Given that we are currently experiencing sluggish growth and that small businesses are the backbone of our nation’s economy, creating 60 to 80 percent of all new jobs, it is absolutely vital that Congress provide small enterprises with the access to capital and counseling services they require to compete in the global marketplace.”

For the programs that are affected, please see full article