Roskam Votes for Small Business Tax Relief

ROSKAM VOTES FOR SMALL BUSINESS TAX RELIEF

Congressman Peter J. Roskam (R-IL) today voted for more than $1 billion in tax relief for small businesses. The bill, H.R. 976, increases the amount a small business can expense and extends for one year the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) as well as the restaurant FICA tip income tax credit.

"Small businesses provide jobs for some 80,000 people in my district and are the engine that drives the U.S. economy," said Roskam. "While I voted for this bill to pass the House, it could have been much better. The Senate version included more than $8 billion in tax relief, compared to the little more than $1 billion in the House version. I voted for the measure because I didn't want the perfect to get in the way of the good. This bill will now go to conference with the Senate version and hopefully the final version will include a tax relief figure closer to the one the Senate passed."

H.R. 976 is designed to allow the House and Senate versions of the bills to increase the federal minimum wage to be reconciled easier in conference committee. The House minimum wage bill did not include tax relief for small businesses while the Senate version did.

"If we raise the minimum wage without protecting small businesses, it would create more problems than it would solve," concluded Roskam. "These employers would have to either raise their prices and pass that onto consumers, layoff employees, or force employees to work fewer hours. Now, if we can pass the wage increase bill and provide protections for these businesses, we are truly improving lives."

http://roskam.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=58519