Sen. Pryor convenes roundtable on jobs, innovation

U.S. Sen.Mark Pryor, D-Ark., convened a roundtable of 30 business leaders from Arkansas to discuss changes to federal laws and regulations that could lead to innovation and new jobs.

"One of the great strengths of our national economy has always been innovation," Pryor said. "We need to try to capture that."

According to this story from Talk Business, Pryor discussed three proposals he’s introduced or partnered on in Washington aimed at fostering entrepreneurship, lowering taxes and encouraging capital investment. Pryor said his legislation and ideas he hoped would come from the roundtable could help entrepreneurs survive the "Valley of Death" from the current recession.

"I think the government really can’t spend our way out of this… I think at this point it’s really the private sector that has to step up," Pryor said.

Pryor’s proposals would:
• Create small business savings accounts that would allow business owners to save up to $10,000 a year tax-free as long as it is used to start businesses.
• Allow for federal tax credits of up to 25% for angel investors who can help provide capital to start-up tech companies.
• Boost science parks for bringing research from laboratories to the free market. It would also provide more money for prizes for entrepreneurial competitions, which have a track record of success for creating jobs.

Pryor said that Washington was going to have to change its taxing and spending priorities to accommodate jobs investments.

He said a recent bipartisan debt commission recommending cuts to the federal budget was a start, but he said entitlement programs and discretionary spending would have to be considered to reform deficits and end debt by the end of the decade.

"I’m not sure we can do it in 10 years," Pryor said in reference to getting the annual budget in the black by 2020. He warned that it could take 20 years to pay off the federal debt, which is already at $14 trillion.

"We’re going to have to change the way we budget money and we’re going to have to change our tax code," Pryor said.

Business leaders at the forum recommended ideas that would help companies invest more in jobs and infrastructure.

Sylvester Smith, director of Arkansas’ chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business, said regulatory uncertainty remains a problem for small businesses. Citing uncertainty over health care reform, rising food costs and pending financial regulations, Smith said, "One of the challenges we’re having is tremendous trepidation in Arkansas about what their costs are going to be in hiring people."

Randy Zook, President of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce, said eliminating a repatriation tax from 5% to zero would incentivize American companies to bring profits back to America.

"We’re essentially encouraging private companies to invest overseas," Zook said, noting that those firms don’t bring their money back to avoid the tax.

Pryor said that there is a big push among Democrats and Republicans in the Senate to get rid of special interest loopholes in the tax code. He cited a conservative Heritage Foundation report that said eliminating tax loopholes could lead to lower corporate and personal income tax rates.

"I think that’s building steam," Pryor said.