Obama to give tax breaks to firms creating new jobs

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama said on Saturday he wants to create tax incentives for businesses that innovate and create new jobs. "I want to give every business in America a tax break so they can write off the cost of all new equipment they buy next year," the president said in his weekly radio address. "That?s going to make it easier for folks to expand and hire new people." The comments came after US government data showed the US economy shed 95,000 jobs in September just weeks ahead of key mid-term elections. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.6 percent from August. Obama also said he wanted to make the research and experimentation tax credit permanent as job creation depended on promoting new ideas and technologies. He also said he wanted to provide a tax cut for clean energy manufacturing in America. But Obama criticized previsions in the US tax law that give billions of dollars in tax breaks to companies that create jobs and profits in other countries, saying: "I want to close these tax loopholes."