Capitol Hill tax-cut proposals for businesses are about as common as blue suits. There’s something different about the latest plan, and it just might work.

Actually, there are two differences that set the new plan apart from others like it:

1. It has bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate. The plan is being championed by the partnership of Democrat Charles Schumer and Republican Orrin Hatch — two names you’re unlikely to see linked to any other piece of legislation.
2. It’s quick and simple. Most other plans involve complicated schemes in which businesses would have to wait for a tax credit or deduction.

Here’s how the Hatch/Schumer plan would work:

• If, this year, you hire someone who has been unemployed for at least 60 days, you’ll receive an immediate exemption from paying the 6.2% Social Security payroll tax on that person’s salary. No waiting for a credit or deduction; the exemption starts the day you hire the person. The exemption is prorated for the year. So, for instance, you’d save more by hiring someone now than if you waited. That’s an obvious incentive to kickstart employment.
• There’s no limit on the exemption. You’d receive it for every eligible person you hired in 2010.
• You’d get a $1,000 tax credit in 2011 for every eligible person you hired in 2010 and kept on the payroll for at least one year.

Because of the support for and ease of the plan, many Senate observers says the idea has a real chance of passing.