Obama Calls on Tax Breaks for Small Businesses

U.S. President Barack Obama asked Congress to support tax breaks for small businesses Tuesday, saying he wants to tap into some bipartisanship to help give entrepreneurs a "leg up" in the economy.

Obama, speaking while surrounded by his cabinet members, said he hopes and expects Congress will send him a bill this year that will expand and make permanent tax breaks to help small businesses grow. He said helping small businesses is an all-hands-on-deck approach within his administration, reported The Wall Street Journal.

Obama frequently touts his administration's efforts to help small businesses and the president recently elevated the head of the U.S. Small Business Administration to a cabinet-level position. Obama said having the SBA administrator, Karen Mills, as part of the president's cabinet is a "symbol of how important it is to spur entrepreneurship, to help start ups, to move aggressively so we can ensure more companies that create the most jobs in our economy are getting a leg up."

Specifically, the president wants Congress to expand and make permanent a measure eliminating taxes on capital gains in key investments in small businesses. He also wants a new tax credit for businesses that add jobs in 2012, as well as an extension of a measure that allows businesses to deduct the costs of equipment purchases.

Some of the proposals are new, while the president has proposed others before.

The president said he also wants to attract more high-skilled foreign workers by eliminating country-specific caps for immigrant visas. The president was asked Monday about the government issuing visas for foreign workers.

During a live question-and-answer session sponsored by Google Inc., a woman asked the president why does the government continue to extend visas for foreign workers "when there are tons of Americans just like my husband with no job?"

Obama said the visa program for foreign workers is only supposed to be used by companies when they can't find someone in the U.S. to fill a role. The woman said her husband was a semiconductor engineer and had 10 years of experience.

Obama said her husband should be able to get a job considering his skills and said he'd be willing to pass her husband's resume along to the appropriate people. "Maybe we can get some information as to why your husband has had some trouble getting placed. We want to encourage more American engineers to be placed" in jobs, Obama said.

The woman said she'd have to "take you up on that."