From Politico we learn more about an effort by House Republicans to pass a 20 percent tax cut for small businesses that employ fewer than 500 people. The plan, Majority Leader Eric Cantor wrote to GOP lawmakers in a memo, “is focused on helping small businesses grow and giving all hardworking taxpayers a fair shot and an opportunity to succeed.” In a separate but related item, a new ADP Report from the Labor Department shows employment in the nonfarm private business sector rose 170,000 from December to January on a seasonally adjusted basis. More than half of those jobs, Inc. observes, came from small business. “Employment on small payrolls—those with up to 49 workers—rose 95,000 in January, with most jobs created by small, service-providing businesses,” says Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC. Employment in the private, service-providing sector increased 152,000 in January, after rising a revised 241,000 in December. Employment in the private, goods-producing sector rose 18,000 in January. Manufacturing employment increased 10,000, while construction employment advanced 2,000 during that period.
