President Barack Obama is expected to provide details today on a proposed tax incentive intended to generate jobs, CNNMoney.com reported.

In his State of the Union address on Wednesday night, Obama said job creation “must be our No. 1 focus in 2010.”

To that end, Obama is calling for a $5,000 tax credit for each net new employee that businesses hire this year. Though the president said, “We should start where most new jobs do – in small businesses,” the incentive would be available to businesses of any size and be retroactive to the beginning of the year.

“We should start where most new jobs do – in small businesses,” Obama said.

According to CNNMoney’s report, start-ups launched this year would be eligible for half of the tax credit.

Obama is also proposing a refund of the Social Security taxes businesses pay on payroll hikes in 2010. That tax credit would be adjusted for inflation and not applicable to increases that boost wages beyond the current taxable maximum of $106,800. The White House estimates the plan would cost $33 billion and benefit 1 million businesses.

Hoping to steer the largest benefits to the smallest companies, the White House is pushing for a $500,000 per firm cap on the refund.

But some small business owners aren’t too enthusiastic about the proposals, saying they need sales and cash, not tax cuts.

Jimmie Hughes, the owner of Richardson, Texas-based Grand America, a 15-person company that sells supplies for a range of organizations, such as funeral homes and police departments, chimed in.

“It all comes down to cash – how much cash do I have to apply to what I owe my vendors?” Hughes said, adding that his staffing decisions will be based on “my cash-flow situation, not a tax credit.”

“In my line of work, the restaurant business, jobs are going to be created or deleted as a direct result of customer traffic,” said Jeff Moss, the owner of Pancho’s Border Grill in Great Neck, N.Y.

“It is not like we are a Fortune 500 company, where we are going to be adding hundreds of jobs and those credits are going to be adding up. We are a small business. If we are adding one employee, the effect on the bottom line is going to be negligible.”