What welfare reform means to small biz. (tax incentives to help welfare recipients)(Small Business Strategies)

Tax incentives may benefit entrepreneurs

Colorado welfare reform legislation is tempting businesses with the carrot-and-stick approach, offering tax incentives to help welfare recipients enter the work force.

Businesses will be able to claim a 20 percent tax credit for providing child care, health or dental insurance, job training or education, and transportation to employees on public assistance.

Whether small businesses will pursue the carrot remains to be seen.

"The less I have to pay for taxes, the more money there would be for more effective training," said Glenda Robinson, president of Finishing Touch Janitorial Service in Longmont.

But past efforts to take advantage of hiring incentives has left Robinson wary of red tape and none the richer. "I would be elated if the process was streamlined," she said.

Getting Robinson to take on welfare recipients is like preaching to the converted. From her first employee, in 1983, until now, she has made it her "mission" to hire the "disadvantaged" - and built an invaluable work force in the process. This year and last, two single parents employed at her company came off the welfare rolls.

Other small-business owners say if the process to claim the tax credits is burdensome, hiring welfare recipients may not be cost effective.

"It depends on the paperwork," said Joseph Wyskiel, president of the Denver moving company Two Men And A Truck.

"We're already overburdened with paperwork. A one- or two-page form would be fine but if I get a booklet of forms, I'd need to hire a secretary," he said. …