Content about Barack Obama

CHICAGO — Early September brought a new proposal—the Americans Jobs Act—from President Barack Obama, which includes incentives for small-business owners to aid in cutting taxes and adding employees.

The proposal cuts employer payroll taxes in half, offers a series of tax credits for companies that hire workers who have been unemployed for longer than six months, establishes an “infrastructure bank” to offer loans for private-sector projects, funds a variety of transportation projects, intends to modernize schools and vacant properties, extends unemployment benefits and subsidizes jobs training programs, pumps money into communities for teachers and first responders, and sets up a summer jobs program for teens.

The bipartisan super committee in Congress—tasked with finding ways to reduce the nation’s debt by December—was due to hear the president’s proposals on cutting debt later in the month.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Obama outlined a new economic plan last week that includes a proposal to assist business investment, and won critical support for a small-business lending package in the Senate.

A new tax break would allow businesses to write off 100% of the cost of new capital investment, expanding upon stimulus measures that expanded business depreciation rules in 2008 and 2009.

WASHINGTON — Companies hiring unemployed workers will be able to take a credit on payroll taxes under the jobs bill signed into law Thursday by President Obama. The bill passed the Senate the day before in a 68-29 vote.

"It is the first of what I hope will be a series of jobs packages that help to continue to put people back to work," Obama said. "I also want to say to the Republicans who voted for this bill that I appreciate their willingness to work with Democrats in a bipartisan fashion to get America moving again."

GLENVIEW, Ill. — Three out of four small-business owners say they would rather see the government enact simple tax cuts than create stimulus initiatives intended to stimulate the economy, according to a SurePayroll survey.

In addition, more than 64% of survey participants indicated that none of the recently enacted stimulus provisions for small businesses would apply to their businesses, and 72% said they would have no idea how to apply for or access loans/capital from the recent stimulus initiatives even if they were eligible, SurePayroll says.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus bill in Denver yesterday. The legislation, which combines $281 billion in tax cuts for individuals and businesses with more than a half-trillion dollars in government spending, is meant to reinvigorate job creation, consumer spending and public optimism.

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Thirty-four percent of small-business owners want President-elect Barack Obama to pass an economic stimulus package as his first step when taking office Jan. 20, according to a recent PayCycle Inc. survey.

The survey, conducted Nov. 19-26, compiled responses from 321 small businesses randomly selected from PayCycle’s national base of more than 75,000 small-business customers.