US Policy Towards Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Innovation Promotion Act

The "Innovation Promotion Act of 2015" was released as a discussion draft on July 31, 2015. The act promotes a reduction of taxes to 10% for income from intellectual property. It also proposes qualifying tax distributions of qualifying intellectual property from a controlled foreign corporation to the US parent company. This act is indicative of the United States' effort to attract and foster more innovation and research.

Feedback on the Innovation Promotion Act

Executive Summary

The Act, as written has a broad scope in terms of qualified property and gross receipts, and has three potential normative economic justifications. The first normative economic justification is in stimulating innovation. Other Acts (Patent Act, R&D tax credits, etc.) share this justification. This Act’s incentives are not sufficiently orthogonal and are less clearly coupled to desired activity as compared with pre-existing legislation that this economic justification would likely be better pursued by extending pre-existing legislation or developing new legislation.

Acts reported on by the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

The following pieces of legislation in 2015 were found from http://www.GovTrack.us:

• S. 1001: The Veterans Entrepreneurial Transition Act of 2015
  • Amends the Small Business Act to direct the Small Business Administration (federal agency that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses), or SBA, to carry out a pilot program to assess the feasibility and advisability of making grants to eligible veterans to start or acquire a qualifying business enterprise
• S. 2116: Small Business Broadband and Emerging Information Technology Enhancement Act of 2015
  • Improves certain programs of the Small Business Administration to better assist small business customers in accessing broadband technology
• S. 552: Small Business Investment Capital Company Act of 2015
  • Amends the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to increase the maximum amount of outstanding leverage provided by the Small Business Administration to two or more commonly controlled small business investment companies not under capital impairment from $225 million to $350 million
• S. 996: Commercial Real Estate and Economic Development Act of 2015
  • Reinstates the authority for Small Business Administration low-interest refinancing of small business debt not involving business expansion under the SBA's local development business loan program
  • Effective: on and after enactment of this Act, and during any fiscal year in which the federal government's cost in making loan guarantees under such program is zero.
  • Repeals a provision of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 that terminated such authority as of September 27, 2012.
• S. 1470: Recovery Improvements for Small Entities After Disaster Act of 2015
  • Amends the Small Business Act to provide additional assistance to small business concerns for disaster recovery, and for other purposes.
• S. 1292: HUBZone Revitalization Act of 2015
  • Amends the Small Business Act to treat certain qualified disaster areas as HUBZones and to extend the period for HUBZone treatment for certain base closure areas, and for other purposes.
• S.999: Small Business Development Centers Improvement Act of 2015
  • Amends the Small Business Act with respect to the authority of the Small Business Administration to use certain SBA programs, including the small business development center (SBDC) program, to provide grants, financial assistance, loans, export assistance, and subcontracting opportunities on federal contracts to specified small businesses, organizations, state governments, universities, companies, and other entities that assist smaller enterprises.
  • Declares that the SBA shall only use such programs to deliver entrepreneurial development services, entrepreneurial education, support for the development and maintenance of clusters, or business training.
• S. 1758: Small Business Energy Efficiency Act of 2015
  • Amends the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to allow a state development company to use the economic development objective of helping small businesses achieve savings through energy efficiency to qualify for loan assistance.
• S.Res. 252: An original resolution expressing the sense of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate relating to easing the burden of Federal tax compliance on small businesses
  • Amends provisions of the Internal Revenue Code relating to the taxation of small business entities.
• S. 2126: Women’s Small Business Ownership Act of 2015
  • Amends the Small Business Act to direct the Small Business Administration Office of Women's Business Ownership to address issues concerning specified disciplines required for starting, operating, and increasing a small business.
• S. 957: Veterans Entrepreneurship Act
  • Increases access to capital for veteran entrepreneurs to help create jobs
• S. 2136: Improving Small Business Innovative Research and Technologies Act of 2015
  • Establishes the Regional SBIR State Collaborative Initiative Pilot Program