This sounds promising

I've been working on something lately that I deliberately haven't blogged about, because the rules about public disclosure are not clear in this case--they haven't caught up to blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc.--and so I'm in contact with the state of Washington about what's ok to talk about on the blog and what's not. It's still in flux, to put it mildly, and since I have no interest in being the test case in my own Scopes monkey trial, I'm not going to push the limits on this. Let someone else be the guinea pig is my motto in this situation.

It is a simple fact, however, that I am currently working on putting together a Small Corporate Offering Registration (SCOR) to capitalize an organization in development, the Massage Informatics and Research Institute (MIRI). I am merely stating that fact, and that is all I am saying about it now; I am most definitely not trying to solicit funds here. The federal government and the state of Washington are very clear on what kinds of solicitations are permitted under the law; until Washington state tells me it's ok to solicit investors through blogs, I will absolutely not be doing so. There are other ways that it will be ok to approach investors to discuss it, and I will be pursuing those avenues whole-heartedly.

I mention that fact here in passing, only so you see the context in which I listened to Barack Obama's SBA speech this morning. He referred to the economic stimulus cutting capital gains taxes for investors who purchase stock in small businesses. Naturally, I support this initiative.

According to Yahoo, Geithner has ordered the Internal Revenue Service to issue new rules for tax breaks for small businesses, including 75 percent of capital gains excluded for those who invest in small businesses.

CNN Money explains it accordingly:

Capital gains: Individuals who invest in small businesses over the next few years will get a nice break on their capital-gains taxes. If you buy stock in a small business, hold it for at least five years, and then sell it, current tax law allows you to exclude 50% of your gains (within certain limits). The stimulus bill increases that exclusion to 75% - but only for stock issued after the bill is enacted.

Another reason why I'm glad I voted for Obama. I think he genuinely takes the concerns of small businesses seriously.

Of course, he's not perfect--I've got some issues with him, and I don't mind saying so publicly. But it's certainly welcome to have substantive debates over principled issues, instead of the perverse stupidity/anti-human-rights feedback loop of the last 8 years! And this initiative, after all of the huge corporate breaks which went before is, to me, a very promising sign that small business is invited to the table to help participate in our civic and economic rebuilding.