WASHINGTON – United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair, Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., and Ranking Member Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, today hosted a staff-led roundtable on the 2009 expiring federal tax provisions. The roundtable, “What is Working: Tax Incentives to Aid Small Business Recovery,” assessed the expiring incentives critical to small business growth and stability.

“Now, more than ever, small businesses need stability and incentives to move forward with getting our economy back on track and creating jobs for American workers,” Sen. Landrieu said. “By extending and expanding tax measures that we know help small businesses grow, we can give these businesses the certainty they need to make new investments and the encouragement they need to help grow our economy.”

“At a time when the American economy is deep in recession, it is vital for Congress to continue to enact pro-growth policies that will expand the economy and create new jobs,” said Ranking Member Snowe. “Extending tax incentives that have a proven track record of growing the economy will help to ensure small businesses, the engines of our economy, have access to the resources they need to access capital and continue to make job-creating investments.”

Senators Snowe and Landrieu introduced legislation Tuesday to make permanent enhanced expensing limits enacted in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The expensing limits allow small businesses to expense up to $250,000 of the cost of new investments. The Senators are also co-sponsors of the New Markets Tax Credit Extension Act, which would extend the New Market Tax Credit for five years and provide $5 billion in annual allocation authority.