Governor Bev Perdue is now calling on the NC Legislature to pass a $17m small business assistance package, entitled JobsNOW, that will offer a lot of tax credits and assistance from the local government to small businesses. The idea is, of course, to focus on smaller NC-based businesses, particularly for state contracts, and to avoid putting too much precedent on bigger multi-state corporations that (supposedly) do not bring in as much cash to NC residents. You can read all of her plans on her website, but the long and short of it is that she wants to provide a cornucopia of tax incentives for new businesses and businesses looking for capital, as well as reinforce main street business and tourism, two somewhat dying industries in NC.