• A tax credit of up to $5,000 for employers against their payroll taxes for every net new employee they hire in 2010. The credit is designed to help jumpstart job growth by giving employers an incentive to add jobs or accelerate the hiring they would have done later in the future. Start-ups would be eligible for half the credit. The credit would be administered off an employer's unemployment insurance wage base (equal to 72% of the unemployment insurance wage base increase, or a $5,000 credit for each additional worker who earns at least $7,000).

• An additional tax credit to reimburse payroll taxes on increases in inflation-adjusted payrolls. Businesses will receive a bonus 6.2% tax credit on aggregate wages in excess of inflation - reimbursing the employer for the Social Security payroll taxes they pay on those payroll increases. This provides firms with an incentive to increase wages or work hours for existing employees, as well as hiring new employees at a higher wage. This wage bonus would be calculated off the Social Security payroll tax base, so firms would not get credit for increasing wages for employees making more than the current taxable maximum of $106,800.

• A cap at $500,000 per business to incentivize small-business hiring. All firms with net employment increases would be eligible for these credits. But to ensure that small businesses receive the bulk of the incentive to hire, the maximum credit will be limited to $500,000 per business.

• Anti-abuse provisions to ensure that employers do not game the system. Businesses that reduce employment or payrolls in 2010 would be ineligible for both the $5,000 credit and the wage bonus. The credit would also include anti-abuse provisions designed to deny or limit the credit to employers that seek to game the system by, for example, replacing full-time employees with part-time employees. This will include limiting the maximum jobs credit amount to 25% of the increase in a firm's Social Security payroll wage base. In addition, rules would prevent businesses from renaming themselves or merging in order to claim the credit.

• Quarterly payment option to accelerate payments to firms. Employers would have the option of receiving the tax credit on a quarterly estimated basis. This helps get money in the hands of employers earlier in the year, could help increase awareness of the credit and provides an early incentive to hire.

However, Susan Eckerly, senior vice president of the National Federation of Independent Business, remained skeptical about the effort: "Unfortunately, there isn't a quick fix for job creation. A well-intentioned tax credit proposal is not going to convince small business owners to add jobs if they don't have work for those employees to do."