Public Policy Issue Briefs

The National Restaurant Association is working with Congress and the Administration to address the country's challenges through economic stimulus legislation, and measures that stabilize the nation's financial system and increase access to credit.

The White House rolled out a plan to help small businesses gain access to credit the week of March 16. President Obama’s plan implements several provisions of the economic recovery legislation signed into law in February and adds new efforts to help unlock the frozen credit markets for the Small Business Administration’s major loan programs. The National Restaurant Association supports these measures.

• NRA analysis of small-business-credit provisions announced by the White House (March 16, 2009)

• Impact of small-business lending provisions on the restaurant industry (March 16, 2009)

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (AARA) H.R. 1

The economic stimulus bill voted on by Congress and signed by President Obama in February offers provisions that will be positive for the restaurant industry, including:

• Make Work Pay Tax Credit that will provide $400 for working individuals and $800 for working families in both 2009 and 2010. This helps the restaurant industry by increasing consumers’ cash-on-hand. (See the new IRS withholding tables for your own payroll here.)

• Extension of the maximum carry-back period from two years to five years for small businesses experiencing net operating losses arising in tax year 2008. This provision should provide an immediate infusion of cash into eligible restaurant businesses, as it allows them to apply their current losses against taxes paid during the previous five years.

• Extension through 2009 of the $250,000 maximum write-off for small business expenses, rather than recovering the costs over time through depreciation, and extension through 2009 of the ability for businesses to immediately write-off 50 percent of the cost of depreciable property.

• $730 million in Small Business Administration funding that will reduce the cost of obtaining an SBA guaranteed loan and give the agency additional resources to help small businesses.

Additional Resources
• IRS webpage on implementing the economic recovery legislation (NOL carryback, COBRA, Make Work Pay tax credit)

Questions?

Contact David Koenig at (202) 331-5905 or dkoenig@restaurant.org.

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