Lowey, Captain Lawrence Owner Toast to Plan for Business Growth
This story has been updated from the version that appeared in the May 29 print edition of The Examiner, The Northern Westchester Examiner and The White Plains Examiner. It now includes reaction from congressional candidate Joe Carvin.
For Captain Lawrence Brewing Company owner Scott Vaccaro, Rep. Nita Lowey’s plan to give small businesses tax credits and allow 100-percent expensing of equipment purchases were definitely worth toasting to.
Lowey was at the brewery in Elmsford Thursday afternoon pushing for initiatives she said would incentivize small businesses to ramp up hiring and help jump-start the economy.
“Frankly, many businesses want to expand and hire people, they just need some help and I support President Obama’s ‘To-Do List’ for small business growth,” Lowey (D-Harrison) said, referring to a list of initiatives Obama unveiled this month and is urging Congress to pass before its summer recess. “The government must be actively working to provide tax relief and encourage small businesses to keep the momentum going to strengthen the economy.”
Lowey, speaking during National Small Business Week, pushed for Congress to allow companies to deduct the full cost of equipment purchases from their federal taxes and to give businesses a 10-percent tax credit if they hired new workers or upped wages. Specifically, she asked that the Republican-controlled House bring these measures to a vote.
“These proposals are really important,” Lowey said. “When I’m out there talking to small businesses, they all agree that this will help jump-start our economy and encourage businesses to hire.”
Vaccaro, whose company expanded and moved to Elmsford earlier this year, said government incentives had helped his business take off.
“As the congresswoman touched on, 100-percent expensing of equipment for us has been a big help and has allowed us to expand,” said Vaccaro.
Lowey and Vaccaro were joined by Greenburgh Councilman Kevin Morgan, Oscar Nordstrom Sr. of Nordstrom Contracting in Elmsford and Thomas McHale of the New York Business Development Corporation. Nordstrom said 100-percent expensing would make it possible for companies like his to purchase equipment and invest in their business instead of renting the equipment.
“I’m fully behind this legislation, which I definitely think would help small businesses, which are a foundation of this country,” he said.
Lowey stressed that, while a long-term plan must be put in place to deal with the nation’s debt, the immediate focus of Congress should be job creation.
“I would like to see this being done in a bipartisan way,” Lowey said. “I have been in Congress now for a while, and I have always worked across the aisle, but you don’t see much bipartisanship these days, and it’s really very tragic.”
After holding a press conference, Lowey sampled one of Captain Lawrence’s beers and toured the facility.
Lowey, in her 12th term in the House, is expected to face Rye Town Supervisor Joe Carvin in the November election.
Carvin blasted Lowey’s proposal, calling it “exactly the wrong way to go.”
“You have a trillion dollars in tax loopholes, so all you’re doing is creating more tax loopholes,” Carvin said. “What you want to do is lower the corporate tax rate.”
Carvin also suggested repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and said he felt the Obama administration has been demonizing businesses.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
