For Immediate Release
March 19, 2003

Jobs & Economic Growth Fact of the Day

$2,042

23 million small business owners would receive an average income tax cut of $2,042 under the President's jobs and economic growth plan.

Today's Action

• Secretary Evans met with the Women's Business Enterprise National Council in Washington, DC today to discuss the President's jobs and growth plan with small business owners. Provisions in the President's plan -- including incentives for small businesses to grow, reductions in their tax burden and the provision to eliminate the double taxation of dividends - would enable small businesses to flourish and create more jobs.

• Nearly 40 percent of America's small businesses are owned by women. Small businesses represent more than 99 percent of all employers nationwide, and employ more than half the private work force. Small business entrepreneurs create more than two out of every three new jobs and account for half of the economy's private output.

• The President is committed to creating an environment where small businesses can flourish. Under the President's economic plan, entrepreneurs will be able to devote more resources to developing products, growing businesses, and hiring more employees.

• Current tax laws permit small businesses to write off as expenses up to $25,000 worth of equipment purchases. The President's plan would increase that limit to $75,000 and index it to inflation - encouraging small businesses to buy technology, machinery, and other equipment they need to expand and create new jobs.

• The President's jobs and growth plan calls for the acceleration of tax reductions enacted in the 2001 tax relief law that would also benefit the Nation's small businesses. In fact, small business owners would receive 79% (about $10.4 billion) of the $13.3 billion in tax relief from accelerating the reduction in the top tax bracket to 35%.

The President has urged Congress to move quickly and act on his economic proposals to encourage our Nation's entrepreneurs, speed up economic growth and generate new jobs for American workers.