business news from the capital region. the this is "the washington buness report" with rebecca cooper. rebecca: happy easter sunday. we have lots of news impacting your wallet and jobs this s week. including to tax and spending plans in the district and maryland. plus the economics of baseball, oil prices, indiana boycott, and international squabbling. we are doing a double round table this week. let's talk job n numbers. investors had hop for that eluse golden easter bag when numbers came out this week.

we got a rotten egg win numbersrs were far worse than analysts expect. here to talk more on this busy week is o of our best anand brightest. regular contributor's ana washinon businesjournal power trifecta, jim dinegar a and jonathan aberman. i'm getetting some strange ises in my head. i'm ing g to talk through it. i can't tell whether it is the control room snd. i will turn straight to you. we have teed up dififferentegend fights. -- two diffeferent budget fights. the governor wants to cut rates for schools. what is the business takake all of these differing qualls? jim: the thing to ep i in mind

is the legislative body. you have the legislature up in maryland that is vasy different from the g governor. he doesn't just carry the day. ere are big issues that he is looking to address. certainly on t transportation issues. a number of different issues she has on edution. a relatively new counsel to -- new counsel. there may be apple brewing over this salales tax. certainly the business cocommunities are not big on taxes. the mayor gets a lot of points. we hear more and morabout her budget. rebecca: she got elect did

thanks to beining able to pull in highgher income voters in th district now she wants to raise taxes th couldurt small business owners, retailers,estaurant hers,. the mayor says everybodyares about this. she says no maer w what more she gogoes into, f the problem. she playing to her ba? jim: almost it works for the stated works for no one. rebecca: -- jim: virginia just paed a dget without a lot of drama. the question you're asksking me is should you spend money on social services even if these tes a are higher for business? unless you have a healy society whe people arere happy to live youou won't have a successful business. rebecca: jack evans, phil

mendelson, lots of members saying hold up, we are already competinwith marilyn -- with maryland and virginia at a disadvantage when itit comes to our tas. larry hogan was to up the game and says virgiginia, we want to take youn. jim: we will tell you the soal tales of things li homelessneness needs to o be addressed. a lot of t the money that gets spspent to the restaurant -- that is not a plus on the ses tax. candidly raising sales tax is difficult to get past. if a a district who looks the surplus they have had in prior years, it t is shameful they are not addressing the homeless.

we are looking at tens of not hundreds of millions of dollars. she hato close that. re forget the momoral high ground. i think the moral high ground always wins. especially homeless found -- homeless filies. they don'want to come to the nation's capitaand have ube a city. jonathan: i think the may needs to focus on building business. rebecca: she is just getting started. jonathan: the money they have allocated for technology and small business, there are things this may or could be doing. qualitof educationon, quality of healthth care. there are things cities need to do well in order forhemm to grow. rebecca: we have the guys coming

up in the next egg meant. i think the mayor is headiding to j -- next segment.t. i think he is gettining a get out of jail free p pass. jonanathan: havi said that t there is real progress bei made and she is focused on the right ththingsgs. our schools getting better? she has this plan for sain elizabeth's. she'e's engaged in the tecechnhnology counity. rebecca: whose approach do you up -- do you prefer? >> i want a lot of good things. we will look at the streetcar and see if that makes sense. first get the union station going so we can clear the way for real good development.t. rebecca: jonathan, you get the last word.

it's television, we like the trauma. -- we like the drama. we wiltalk about that and much more. ststay tuned when we return, the top three things you may be overlooking as tax time approaches.

rebecca: one of the downsides of spring is tax season is upon us. to tell us what is new in 2015 andd to share the top three tax break small businesses o overlook is kate bonner, senior manager of public policy at the national federation o of independent business. thank u souch for joining us. you have lots of informaon on the website so we are not going to getnto e weeds of spring

cleaning. we are going to hit on some thinings for 2015. there are expirired tax extenders businesses need to be aware of. kate: hungers a dressed 50 tax extenders. those are retroactive. let's left in the r is whether those extenders will be made permanent, e extended again. the house has voted on one. rebecca: one of these days we are going to seeee if congress gets everything done. it has a nice ring to it. the employer mandate, where are we there? kate: important to know full-time as defined at 30 hours r week. next year it will go intnto effect with more than 50 employees.

very imporortant for plannin purposes. you need t to know whether you are subject to the employer mandate or not. 30 hours or more. it went up just t a bit for next year. 18,000 for the employer contribuon to a 401(k). it is up to 53,000. it is a great benefit for employers and employees. recca: why is it such a great benefit? keeping g the employee gets to get the employee. not what they want it but it is there. kate: ere is the idea of corporate only taxi reform. the only way to get the method table for comprehense tax reform is to include the i income

tax rate they are pingheir taxes at the individual income rate, not the corporate rate. it is important that congrs addresses both. we will see if it actually happens. rebecca: small business 101, they know that. why do small sinesses havave to keep reminding them ofhat? kate: that is a good queuestion. rebecca: and must be so ustrating. kate: corporate owned businesses will fight them to the nail for that. rebecca: we will be right behind you. even smart small businesses filing taxes and paying too much, give me some of those. kate: first is the home office deduction. what is inincluded is if u work from home, say you drive to an employee meeting or related business meeti, that trip is

tax-deduductible. and it adds up. at return trip is also tax-deductible. it c can add up to 30% more on your cars. rebecca: people are told not to take too mucuch. at is a good one. meals and entertainment, you say there is some wiggle room there. rebecca: as long as it is a legitimate business discussion over a meal or some sort of entertainment function, 50% of that e expenses tax adoptable. very important. -- expense is tax-deductible. rebecca: o or member the topic. travavel can be a tax saver. kate: you kn it is an express trip easy. if you end up working half of the day or more, tha is or more

hours, you can deduct that travel. rebecca: people n't reize that. everybody is sitting at the swimming pool with a laptop. your kids are paying thehe price when you are not going down the waterslide with em. kate: small business owners are never on vacation. rebecca: c corp. versusus s corp. give us to highlight. the rest will be on our website. kate: there is a double tax for c corp.. definitely talks to your desktop cure tax attorney and make sure you don't need to be a c corp. en youou can start the transition to a pass-through. escort only some of their business income, those earnings arsubject to the self-employment tax. you are papaying 100% tax on those earnings. rebecca: thank you for joining us. pretty easter colors.

we have more with the rououndtable this week, including what baseball means when it comes to dollars in the d

rebecca: hero jim and jonathan, holding up more easter egg honey so we can tackle the top x - the topics. jim, we haven't even gotten to one of theiggest topics of the week, job mbers. they were a a dud on friday. knowleledge analysts had hoped for.

that''s not what analysts had hohoped for. jim: we had difficulty recruiting and retaining the people we need to fill the bs. the department of defense is looking for r 30 people related to cer. they are going to have their hands all. we have the equivalent ofof spring housing numbers. we are hearing about people turning down job offers, asking for relocation money. it is hard to find ople to fill some of the jobs. rebecca: can wbrag about you? you pretty much a stick. that pretty much east it. why were your number so -- you pretty much aced it. jim: employment numbers going down in maryland and virginia. there i is a new highlight visibility for the region. the numbers came in very close. rebecca: jonathan, y spepend so much of your timime pro bono

passionately trying to fill those jobsn cyber security and so many other things. you work with some of e st minds you are trying to bring totogether the business community the start of communinity, and the government. whatbout this whole they can't fill. jonathan: there is a challenge for high-t-tech workers. the reason why what we are doing in washington is so important is because there are people involv in technology that are consumer. ouour effort is s to bring them private intervenors differ fill those jobs if the phil that it fills together very wewell. rebecca: we had big news with signgns of a deal with iran. it hasn't been s signed on the dotted line. govement may take steps to get in thehe way. have come a long way over the israeli eltions.

signs of possible easing of economic sanctions so that sinesses can get the same opportrtunities. are they still big and ever prent? jonaan: now tt memet now who is reelected he is a force to be ckoned with. i thihink the republican leadership in congress has real concerns. eveven if the deal hahas't been finalized, we had to waiait several months. that is just with iran. this is a very unsettling time. we still suffer unr sequestration. we still look at the issues associated i think we are going to be looking at the loosening -- at loosening the restrainints.

jim: we are in the middle of a 1200 year war. national security and nuclear terrence worked very well l for a longng time. ultimately i if we contain iran we can accomplish the same objective. the world is complex. rebecca: you give up those sanctions you loose some of your bargaining power. jim: i think the president and europeans understand that. rebecca: we are not going to solve middle east peace. jim, 10t anniversary. i got to go to nats park to see their new metal detectors. either way you look at it, it is

credible what has haened to the district surrounding that area. i used to go to the shops -- to the poor and shops down there to talk aboutow desolate that part of d.c. is. jonathan: just roll with it. baseball has been great for a pariah dumfries and -- for a variety of reasons. we're talking about zimmerman and harper and theest. on top of the castle. wizards onop of big ten football, university of maryland. it is a different day and i thinink the nationals have led a charge for a redevelopment of an area. a lot of excitement and hometown pride. some 10-year-old is cheering for the nats.. rebecca: kudos to the business

community. they were behind that. 30 seconds, what is your quick take? jim: i think sports is an expensive amenity for city.. but it is one of the few things a city can do to bring the broader population to -- brbroader population together. it is positive thing. rebecca: stay tuned, we have the pop quiz coming up next. we have

rebecca: might as well geto the popop quiz weather has been some s sanctimony this week in economics. some people saying they will spend more money on mcdonald' thanks to mcdonald's saying t they will pay higher wages for the workers at the stores ey own. some sayining they are going t boycott indian because of new religious freedodom laws they'rere saying they discriminate. will mcdonald see any profit from boosting minimum-wage and will indiana see any losses as a result of their laws?? jonathan: i think they recognize they need to payeople a living wage to cocome to work there. they are hard jobs.

i think it will help mcdonalald's. social issues are really tough. a lot ogay lesbian n consumers in this country -if they are going to be welcome they are ing to spend a lot of money. rebecca: they have the best fries in the universe. yocan't have a dollar menu if you pay too much to your workers. i don't want to have -- jim: mcdonald's is facing what a loof other businesses are facing. recruiting and retaining. the market is tting tighter. indidiana may come back and haunt some of the jurisdictions. rebecca: times up, thank you.

morris: this week on "government matters" -- the bureau prepares to take the passport renewal process online. i will sit down with her chief information officer. >> there's a lot of legac and infrastructure. that can't be something that holds us back from fulfilling our obligations and responsibilities to make a web that is private for everyone. morris: government websites make a move towards https >> it will be a fun contract to watch. morris: the number of contractors swirling around i in nasa's soup could quadruple. how will that impact customer service? >> from abc 7 and news channel 8, this is "government matters." morris: to our viewers aroundnd th