Here’s an eye-opening fact from Seattle-based website, crosscut.com. America’s Fortune 500 companies, in the aggregate, creating nearly zero net new jobs over the past 30 years. According to most experts, start-up companies generate many more new jobs, proportionally, than the rest of the private sector. This fact was confirmed by a January, 2009 report issue by the Kaufman Foundation in conjunction with the U.S. Census Bureau, which highlighted the key role of start-ups in new job creation.
So where does the economic stimulus for these types of jobs come from? Not from big, established venture capital firms, according to Crosscut. Most of these big firms invest in companies well beyond the early start-up stage. No, much of the fuel for small enterprise comes from entrepreneurs themselves and “angel” investors – often friends and family – who provide the capital for new businesses.
That’s why Ron Erickson, a Seattle businessman and attorney, proposes a zero capital gains plan for individuals who invest up to $250,000 in start-ups and small companies. He feels this type of tax incentive would dramatically accelerate the growth of the economy and unleash a new generation of greentech, digital, healthcare, IT and energy success stories.
Is anyone in Washington listening?
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