Democrats say Bush's Social Security reform plan is a blow to small business owners

• Democrats released a study asserting that President Bush's Social Security reform proposal would hurt small businesses by cutting their retirement benefits and adding administrative costs.
• The president's plan would allow people to invest some of their Social Security taxes in personal accounts.
• The result, the Democratic Policy Committee concludes, would be smaller Social Security benefits for small business owners and their employees.
• Since most small businesses can't afford to offer retirement plans of their own, they and their employees are especially dependent on Social Security, Democrats say.
• Small businesses also could be saddled with the costs of administering their employees' personal accounts.
• This would cost $300 per employee for a business with 10 employees, says Francis Cavanaugh, former executive director of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board.
• "Private accounts won't work for Social Security, and they won't work for small businesses," says Sen.
• Supporters of the president's plan say the benefits of giving people a chance to get a better return on their Social Security taxes outweigh the costs of administering the program.
• "Those costs will pale in comparison to the costs of the higher payroll taxes that will be necessary to support future retirees if Social Security isn't reformed," says Americans for Prosperity Foundation spokesman Ed Frank.