Washington, D.C. - One of the country's leading small business advocacy groups congratulated the Congress for advancing a tax package that will provide America's small business and entrepreneurial sector with tax relief, while protecting these businesses, their communities and workforce from the unfair and destructive death tax. The Small Business Survival Committee (SBSC) commended President George W. Bush for his leadership in quickly acting upon one of his key campaign promises that was especially important to our nation's job creators and risk-takers.

"Small business owners both in the short- and long-term will have more stable and healthy businesses as a result of President Bush's commitment to tax relief.  That's good news not only for our economy, but for America's entrepreneurial workforce who are joining and starting small firms in unprecedented numbers," stated SBSC Chairman Karen Kerrigan.

According to SBSC, lowering marginal tax rates and phasing out the death tax are two pro-growth measures that directly impact job security and job creation, investment, entrepreneurship and capital formation. Individual Retirement Account (IRA) expansion and other pension reforms will boost incentives for saving, which means a larger pool of capital for entrepreneurs to access.  With 89 percent of small businesses paying taxes as individuals rather than corporate entities, cutting marginal rates is especially welcome by business owners and the self-employed of all income levels.

"This is money that will be invested right back into the business. Small business owners will use these freed-up resources to enhance benefits and increase the pay of their loyal workforce.  It will also serve as a cushion to make it through the uncertain economic period ahead.  We hope that this package serves as a down payment on other pro-growth initiatives like capital gains tax reduction that will help continually fuel the vitality of America's small business and entrepreneurial sector," added Kerrigan.

SBSC is a national non-profit small business advocacy organization with 70,000 members nationwide.  For more information, please visit SBSC's website at http://www.sbsc.org/.