In Bloomberg Opinion, I write about some red tape that is making it even harder for small businesses to survive this economy:
Congress established the Paycheck Protection Program in late March to provide forgivable loans to businesses to help them through the Covid-19 crisis. The Small Business Administration is insisting that 75% of any amount forgiven has to be spent on payroll, as opposed to rent, utilities and other overhead costs. That requirement is not in the law, as the agency’s inspector general has pointed out in a report. The agency explained that it had consulted Mnuchin and determined this limit fit the law’s “overarching focus on keeping workers paid and employed.”
But the rule subverts the purpose of the program . . . .