New York Rep. Charles Rangel, the chairman of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, last week said he was willing to consider reducing tax rates on America's corporations to help them remain competitive in a global economy.
He also said he was willing to work with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on ideas from the administration, including reducing the top corporate rate from 35 percent to 27 percent.
We applaud Chairman Rangel's comments, as well as his willingness to work in a bipartisan fashion, as we firmly believe that America must remain competitive. But if we want to help all of our country's businesses, not just the largest corporations, here are some of the things that Congress can do for the heart of our country's economy, the creators of most of our new jobs-America's small businesses.
Small firms with fewer than 500 employees represent 99.9 percent of the 26.8 million businesses in the country, both large and small. If America's small business were a separate economy, it would be the world's third-largest, trailing only the United States as a whole and Japan.
In addition, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses account for about two-thirds of all net new jobs created in recent years, while every day we read about large corporate layoffs.
Small business in America is alive and well. Let's make sure that we don't forget that, and that Congress does what it needs to do to ensure that this critical portion of our economy stays healthy and growing.
Todd Stottlemyer is president and CEO of the National Federation of Independent Business in Washington, D.C.