Deeds highlights small businesses at local shop stop

Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic nominee for governor, visited the Virginia Shop at Barracks Road Shopping Center on Monday to highlight his plan that he says will help such small companies grow and add jobs.
“The first job of the next governor of Virginia will be to restore confidence in our economy,” said Deeds, standing behind the Virginia Shop’s counter and in front of a wall of University of Virginia and Virginia Tech T-shirts.
If elected Virginia’s next governor on Nov. 3, Deeds would seek to establish a payroll tax credit for every new full-time job that an employer creates.
Deeds’ opponent, GOP nominee Bob McDonnell, has proposed offering a similar tax credit for employers who create at least 50 new jobs, or 25 new jobs in areas considered to be economically distressed.

‘Help the little guy’

Offering a tax break to employers with a handful of employees would benefit the greatest number of businesses and create the greatest number of jobs, Deeds argued.
The Virginia Shop, for example, has one full-time and five part-time employees. Roughly 96 percent of businesses in the Charlottesville area have fewer than 50 employees, Deeds said. Between 75 percent and 85 percent of job growth, he added, is likely to occur at small companies.
“We need to help big businesses, but you also have to help the little guy,” Deeds said.
Willis Logan, owner of the Virginia Shop, said Deeds has been a friend to small business and has always sought to work in a bipartisan, pragmatic fashion during his nearly 20 years as a member of the General Assembly.
“Here at the Virginia Shop, we feature the finest goods and services from Virginia,” Logan said. “We have with us today the finest candidate for governor, Creigh Deeds.”

Deeds, Logan said, is a “transformative leader” who would continue the economic policies of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and former Gov. Mark R. Warner.
Deeds, he added, worked with state regulators to make legislative changes when the business model of Logan’s Virginia Wine of the Month Club company was in jeopardy several years ago.
“His dedication, his ability to work with all parties is what we need in a governor in this difficult economic time,” Logan said.
In addition to his payroll tax proposal for creating new jobs, Deeds discussed several other parts of his plan to boost Virginia’s economy.
Deeds proposed a tax credit to refund any increase in federal payroll taxes that small businesses pay for adding “good-paying” jobs. Deeds also proposed extending the net operating loss carryback tax break from two years to five years in an attempt to help struggling small businesses. And Deeds said he would provide incentives for small businesses to pool together to purchase low-cost health insurance for employees.
Deeds also would expand the “Business One Stop” Web site and office within Virginia’s Department of Business Assistance to make it simpler to start a new business.
He further proposed creating a rural business fund that would aim to spur economic growth in rural parts of Virginia. And he suggested doubling the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, which is essentially a discretionary pot of money for economic development projects.

Jobs — everyone’s priority

McDonnell’s plan to create new jobs in Virginia also goes beyond his plan to offer tax credits for companies that create more than 50 jobs.
If McDonnell is elected, his jobs plan says, he would seek to reduce regulatory obstacles and accelerate permitting to such an extent that a new business can start within 48 hours.
McDonnell would also appoint Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling as “Virginia’s chief job creation officer” and would designate a deputy secretary of commerce to focus entirely on rural economic development.
McDonnell has also proposed doubling the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, as well as broadening the fund’s rule to allow more companies that generate additional state and local tax revenue to qualify.
Deeds is skeptical about McDonnell’s plan to expand the Governor’s Opportunity Fund. Deeds, who was instrumental in getting the fund added into the Code of Virginia, said that McDonnell voted three times to slash funding for the economic development fund.
“He’s never introduced one bill to create a job,” Deeds said. “He’s not been a legislator who has been focused on the economy.”

Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for the Republican Party of Virginia, said that a Deeds administration would be bad for the economy, as Deeds has not come out in opposition to federal climate change legislation that he said will increase electricity bills.
“It’s very difficult to believe that Creigh Deeds could, in any way, create jobs, given that he supports cap-and-trade,” Murtaugh said.
Murtaugh added that Deeds has voted on numerous occasions to raise taxes. In a recent interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Deeds said that if the General Assembly approved a transportation bill that included a tax increase, he would sign it.
“His answer to everything seems to be to raise taxes — chiefly the gasoline tax,” Murtaugh said. “Show me where anyone said that raising taxes is a way to improve the economy.”