Local Business Owners
Voice Support for Bill
Seeking new and effective ways to spur job
creation and address perennially high unemployment rates amongst New York’s
returning combat veterans, Senator Jeffrey D. Klein, alongside fellow IDC
member Senator David Carlucci (D-Rockland) and a bipartisan group of Senators
from across New York, introduced legislation yesterday providing major tax
credits to private employers hiring veterans discharged after 9/11. The
legislation is named “Jobs for Heroes.”
Senator Klein called the bill (S.3043) a win-win for business and veterans: “With this bill, we’re tackling two major issues head-on. Not only are we incentivizing job creation, but we’re also putting our returning soldiers at the front of the employment line.” Jobs for Heroes marks a culmination of work on veteran employment issues for Senator Klein, including hosting a veterans job fair and holding “Thought Raisers,” small roundtable discussions comprised of veterans, veterans groups and business leaders.
Business leaders from across the state also came out to support the proposal. These leaders included Tim Rooney, the Owner of Yonkers Raceway and Empire City Casino, and Chuck Tobin, the CEO of Focused Technologies in Albany. Both business owners regularly seek out and employ veterans for critical jobs at their companies.
Also in attendance was Bronx small business
owner, Bob Bieder, who expressed his
support of the bill. Mr. Bieder said, “As a small business owner, finding
hard-working, dependable employees who I can invest in can be challenging at
times. American veterans have been put to the test time and time again and Jobs
for Heroes makes it possible for me to hire returning servicemen
and women as my business grows.”
New York State is home to more than 8,000 unemployed post-9/11
veterans. The unemployment rate among these veterans is a startling 10.7%,
according to statistics released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Under
the proposal released today, business owners who employ a post-9/11 war veteran
to a new, full-time job will receive a state tax credit equal to 10% of the new
employee’s gross annual salary. The tax credit can be up to $10,000 for each
non service-disabled veteran and up to $15,000 for each newly hired
service-disabled veteran. Employers may apply the tax credit towards each and
every new veteran that they hire for a qualifying job, without limit.
Senator Carlucci is the prime sponsor of the legislation.
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