Archive for the ‘Economy’ Category

Moderated by Rick Badie

Women and minorities face tougher hurdles when it comes to start-up capital and financing, according to research commissioned by the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy. Today, the researcher explains her findings, while the Georgia district SBA director outlines what that agency does to level the playing field. And we learn about “angel investors.”

SBA programs help level playing field

By Terri L. Denison

One of the biggest challenges small businesses experience is access to capital. Historically, this has been particularly true for businesses started and owned by African-Americans, Hispanics and women. Many studies associate this disparity in business lending with factors such as lower median household incomes and assets, reduced likelihood of entrepreneurial knowledge and experience through family-owned businesses, and lower credit scores and profiles. During the Great Recession, these groups were disproportionately affected by …

Continue reading Start-up capital, angel investors »

By Rick Badie

Today, we debate the potential economic impact of the Affordable Care Act to Georgia. A proponent of the health care plan calls it a cost-effective way to broaden insurance coverage statewide if Gov. Nathan Deal expands Medicaid. A family physician, who says insurance premiums and deductibles are already on an uptick, worries about medical inflation.

It’s wise to expand Medicaid

By Kim Anderson

Seldom does a state get the opportunity to solve major problems so cost-effectively. Federal funds have been set aside for Georgia under the Affordable Care Act to broaden access to insurance coverage under Medicaid. We can cover 530,000 adults who are not now eligible with federal funds paying the entire cost for the first three years, phasing down over time to 90 percent.

The offer is on the table. All we have to do is say, “Yes.”

At Families First, the largest and leading Georgia nonprofit serving children and families, we see what happens when parents lack …

Continue reading Affordable Care Act: Cost effective or too costly for Georgia? »

Moderated by Rick Badie

Neighborhoods in the shadow of the proposed new Falcons stadium have been promised social and economic benefits from the project. Will they see them? Today’s guest columnists offer their perspectives, while I interview the pastor of Lindsay Street Baptist Church, an anchor of the English Avenue community.

Stadium neighbors will see renaissance

By Brian McGowan

Many families living in the western portion of downtown and the historic neighborhoods of Vine City and English Avenue have faced difficult economic and social challenges. Struggling schools, high unemployment, persistent crime, poor housing and other challenges feed into and perpetuate one another.

On top of that, the Great Recession hit particularly hard communities that were already struggling. Despite previous investments and proximity to the Atlanta University Center, Georgia Tech and Centennial Olympic Park, these communities have continued to experience decline. We now have a historic …

Continue reading How will stadium neighborhoods fare? »

Moderated by Rick Badie

Space, the profitable frontier? Some say it could be for a state’s economy, especially down South. Georgia recently made a bid to land Space X, a rocket ship company, as the inaugural tenant of a proposed “spaceport” in Camden County. Today, a guest columnist says creation of a commercial space industry bodes well for Georgia, while the other writer encourages state officials to embrace a golden opportunity.

South Georgia needs space

By Michael Mealling

I grew up in Tifton and Brunswick and have family in Waycross, Moultrie, and Savannah. I drive through that part of the state and see small towns dying. The proposed spaceport in Camden County is the best opportunity to help South Georgia’s economy. We should do whatever it takes to make it a reality.

When NASA was looking for a location to launch rockets in the early 1960s, a group of Georgia businessmen promoted southeast Georgia as a potential site. Their proposal ran a close second to sites …

Continue reading Profit in space? »

Moderated by Rick Badie

The U.S. Supreme Court stands poised to decide the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA. Today, a gay civil rights advocate calls the law discriminatory, outdated and unfair, particularly for same-sex married couples during tax season. A supporter of the federal law deems it necessary to preserve an “ageless institution.”

Commenting is open below.

DOMA: Unfair and outdated

By Jeff Graham

While the core value of the fight for marriage equality is about the right to marry the person you love, the legal commitments that come with this right are very real to the hundreds of thousands of loving couples who are currently being discriminated against under federal law. According to the General Accounting Office, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) restricts same-sex couples from accessing the benefits, rights and privileges housed in 1,138 federal statutory provisions.

To marry, a same-sex couple must travel to a state where it is legal …

Continue reading Marriage Act unfair or necessary? »

By Rick Badie

Today, we explore Georgia’s opportunity zone system, an economic development tool that’s supposed to spur revitalization in designated areas. An Atlanta city councilman writes about the latest zone — the Sweet Auburn area, which includes the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s boyhood home. Meanwhile, a California union official questions the value of such tax incentives in his state.

Opportunity zones create jobs

By Kwanza Hall

Georgia’s Opportunity Zone program was created in 2008. It is one tool, among others, to help local governments bring jobs back to neglected commercial and industrial areas. The program offers a $3,500 tax break per hire, for up to five years, to businesses that hire two or more full-time employees.

Two years ago, the city of Atlanta received approvals for its first opportunity zones. Since then, under the leadership of Mayor Kasim Reed, the city has received state approvals for 11.

Governments wishing to designate an area for this …

Continue reading Opportunity Zones »

Moderated by Rick Badie

Georgia House Bill 399 would keep Clayton County from collecting taxes from vendors at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. State Rep. David Knight, the bill’s sponsor, says Georgia law doesn’t allow such a thing. Meanwhile, State Rep. Michael Glanton says Clayton could lose millions in revenue if the bill becomes law.

House bill protects integrity of tax

By David Knight

Georgians should be confident that their taxes are being assessed equally, uniformly and with clarity. House Bill 399 seeks to give Georgians that confidence.

Some local governments have started issuing a “possessory interest tax.” These local governments have used this undefined tax as a way to levy taxes on entities for property they do not own, cannot transfer, and use at the will of another. In other words, they have invented a tax to tax things that state law does not allow them to tax.

Clayton County and the city of College Park have begun using this possessory …

Continue reading General Assembly: House Bill 399 »

Moderated by Rick Badie

Mayor Kasim Reed writes about a “metropolitan export initiative” designed to strengthen the global business identity of the Atlanta region and expand business opportunities with overseas markets. Reed’s plan creates city-to-city partnerships to bolster the area’s global competitiveness. Two state Department of Transportation officials outline that agency’s plans to make Georgia a “Golden Gateway of Choice.”

By Kasim Reed

Over the past three years, Atlanta has become a safer, financially healthier and stronger metropolis for business, science and technology. However, to meet the post-recession jobs challenge and become a leading world-class city in a 21st century economy, we must work harder.

At Wednesday’s Global Cities Initiative forum, sponsored by the Brookings Institution and JP Morgan Chase, I will highlight the region’s assets: the nation’s third-highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies; the world’s busiest passenger …

Continue reading Mayor Kasim Reed: Expand Atlanta’s global business identity »

Moderated by Rick Badie

States with budget shortfalls are struggling to account for the revenue gaps. One way to boost their economic health would be for states and the federal government to close corporate tax loopholes, writes an official for a nonprofit consumer group. A certified public accountant suggests changes in the U.S. tax code would raise revenue but might also cause substantial job losses. A third writer talks about stopping tax refund fraud.

Close tax loopholes used by companies

By Laura Murray

The budget fights in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta are looking predictably ugly this year, and shape up along familiar lines: Do we raise taxes? Do we sink deeper in debt? Which programs do we cut? How deep?

Fueling these debates are the automatic across-the-board federal spending cuts taking place around the country. These cuts make no distinction between public priorities and wasteful spending, cutting both with equal abandon. Cuts to military spending and Medicare are …

Continue reading Tax havens and tax refund fraud »

Moderated by Rick Badie

Legislators often say they must cut spending while they simultaneously reward big corporations — the job creators — with tax breaks and incentives. Today, a former state budget analyst questions this practice, while a state chamber executive cites its economic benefits.

Commenting is open below.

Some tax breaks might not work

By Alan Essig

The 2013 General Assembly is considering giving special tax treatment to encourage mobile home sales, help Georgia’s aircraft maintenance companies compete against their counterparts in other states, and lower the cost of zoo construction projects.

The tax breaks on the menu would diminish state revenues by tens of millions of dollars if all became law. That would be on top of the nearly $300 million in corporate tax credits for economic development Georgia now hands out each year.

This should raise eyebrows even if state budget cuts to education weren’t still causing teacher furloughs and layoffs across the …

Continue reading Are tax breaks for corporations a good deal? »