Stunning growth.

• Author: Zoakos, Criton
• Position: Off the News - Brief Article

A stunning picture emerges from the Internal Revenue Service's publication of its projection for 2005 U.S. tax filings. The rate of new U.S. business formation has averaged 941,900 per year in the five-year period from 2000 to 2005.

This is the highest rate in U.S. economic history for any comparable five-year period, and higher than that of Ronald Reagan's first term in office, the previous all-time high. In absolute numbers, 4,709,500 new businesses were created during George Bush's first term. By comparison, during President Reagan's first term, 3,849,200 businesses were created. Most of the new businesses (85 percent) are serf-employed sole proprietorships. The largest category of these new businesses is professional, scientific, and technical services (14 percent), followed by construction (13 percent) and retail trade (12 percent). The income of...