NASA to Invest $105M in Innovative Tech Businesses

Less than 3% of approximately 30 million small-business owners in the US could be impacted by President Joe Biden’s tax increase under the jobs and infrastructure plan.The tax rate increase from 21% to 28% will not affect small businesses organized as “passthrough” enterprises. Limited liability companies are the biggest representatives of passthrough entities, and also account for nearly all small businesses. Therefore, most of them will avoid this hike.What’s more, most small-business owners are single earners. Out of that group, the only ones who will feel the proposed increase are people and married couples with more than $452,700 and $509,300 in annual income, respectively.This potential result is in line with the goal of the new corporate tax rate. After all, President Biden is counting on the support of small-business owners in this matter, as the actual target of this plan is large corporations. The White House seeks to increase the corporate tax rate by 7% to 28%, which would be significant primarily for large corporations like Amazon and Walmart. National trade groups, like the Business Roundtable and the US Chamber of Commerce, are vehemently opposed to the proposed change.According to a White House official, the tax plan should help eliminate the practice of offshoring profits and jobs while paying lower taxes than small businesses, present at many multinational corporations.Republican lawmakers are opposed to the proposal and remain unmoved by the small-business plight. The official White House stance is one open to compromise. According to the official, President Biden “was in the Senate for almost 40 years and understands how the legislative process works, and there is going to be a little bit of give and take with Congress, so that's the part of the process we are in right now.”Even though tax changes won’t impact most small businesses, these business owners will still need to stay on top of their tax obligations. They can do so by using tax software to automate the preparation process and meet filing deadlines.

Unemployed Americans could lose their unemployment aid come this June, two months earlier than initially planned. The announcement comes as a shock for thousands who lost their jobs during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Jobless Americans were supposed to receive monetary aid until Sept. 4, 2021, through the federal unemployment program, but several US states have decided to cut the program by two months. At the moment, the shortened federal aid program is set in motion in Arkansas, Montana, Mississippi, and South Caroline. “Continuing these programs until the planned expiration date of Sept. 4, 2021, is not necessary and actually interferes with the ability of employers to fill over 40,000 job vacancies in Arkansas,” wrote Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson in a letter. Hutchinson added that the current unemployment benefits stop people from taking on new jobs and that the current unemployment rate is just 0.6% under the pre-pandemic rates. In his words, the government aid to jobless people in Arkansas is causing a labor shortage. While this won’t mean an end to all unemployment benefits, it will certainly cause a drastic drop in many people’s income. Specifically, it would mean that jobless citizens of Arkansas will then receive $248 a week, while the weekly check in Mississippi will be $195. The decision was met with a lot of opposition, with the loudest opponents claiming it’ll set America for a wave of family hardship. It will affect not just people who lost their jobs but also self-employed, freelancers, and gig workers who, according to the gig economy statistics, make up 36% of US workers and were already having a rough time throughout the pandemic. Small business owners in many towns had to close their shops, either for good or temporarily, until the business could pick up, saying that the government unemployment checks helped them through this turbulent period. “We’re looking at a tsunami of debt, evictions, and food insecurity on the horizon, and it’s mostly women and people of color who will bear the brunt of that,” said Rebecca Dixon, executive director of the National Employment Law Project. Dixon believes the decision is shortsighted and potentially dangerous.

The Paycheck Protection Program, aimed at helping small businesses affected by the pandemic, ran out of funding May 4 - four weeks before its scheduled end. It is currently not accepting new applications as the $292 billion allocated for the last round of loans is soon to be depleted.Some money remains for lenders to finish processing pending applications. Around $8 billion is set aside and still available for community financial institutions that lend to businesses run by women, minorities, and other underprivileged communities. For this fund, applications are still ongoing, and it will continue to accept applications until funds run out.This new development came as a surprise to many lenders. They estimated that it would run out before the deadline; still, the exact moment coming so soon was unexpected.“It is our understanding that lenders are now getting a message through the portal that loans cannot be originated,” the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders alerted its members. “The PPP general fund is closed to new applications.”The latest government data states that the PPP program disbursed $780 billion in forgivable loans to businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic so far. In the early days of the pandemic, the number of active business owners plummeted by 22% over two months, from February to April 2020. Among these, African-American businesses suffered the biggest hit, experiencing a 41% drop.The struggle was apparent in the number of applications for small business loans. Companies that offer loans for those with bad credit were especially popular, as well as alternative financing methods, such as crowdfunding.However, it was precisely the Small Business Administration’s loans that helped many businesses stay afloat in challenging times. This is the reason the program was renewed in December’s relief bill. The new program accepted applications from applicants struggling to find funds elsewhere, such as minority or veteran-owned businesses.The interest in these loans was considerable, so the application deadline was pushed forward to May. Unfortunately, the deadline push was not followed by a significant increase in available funds. It seems that the government is counting on pandemic restrictions easing as the vaccination rate grows and deems additional funding unnecessary for many small businesses.Luckily for the business industries hit the hardest by the pandemic - restaurants and live events - help is still underway, as the government’s recent efforts suggest. The SBA program is offering $28.6 billion in grants to food-oriented businesses, and the application process began on May 1. The first three weeks will be focused on approving applications from enterprises owned by priority groups, and the SBA promises to respond to individuals applying for a grant within 14 days.Patrick Kelley from the SBA’s Capital Access office said in a webinar last week that the amount of money Congress set aside for this purpose is likely not going to be enough when the demands coming from this industry are considered.A similar request came in from another sector - entertainment. This industry - music club operators, theater owners, and others in the live-event business - was also heavily hit by the pandemic. A program named the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, started on May 2 and will disburse $16 billion in grants to shuttered venues. Approximately 15,000 people applied since the opening of the fund.