Posted on 07/26/2012 7:38:05 AM PDT by IbJensen
Yesterday, the Senate narrowly voted (51-48) to raise taxes on 1.2 million small businesses, which will likely kill more than 700,000 jobs at a time when nearly 13 million Americans are out of work. Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Jim Webb (D-VA) joined all Republicans in bipartisan opposition to the tax hike.
This is President Obama’s economic plan. This is what he asked Congress to do. And he recently told a fundraising crowd that his economic plan has been working.
“Just like we’ve tried [Republicans'] plan, we tried our plan—and it worked,” he said.
But Obama’s Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, said yesterday that “the economy is not growing fast enough,” acknowledging that “unemployment is very high.” “The institutions with authority should be doing everything they can to try to make economic growth stronger,” he said.
The President’s plan, now endorsed by the Democratic majority in the Senate, has little chance of going anywhere in the House of Representatives. But it has put the 51 Senators who want to raise taxes on record.
Perhaps the biggest lie in the tax debate is that this vote affects only “the rich.” That’s simply not true. Many small businesses, known as flow-through businesses, pay their taxes through the individual income tax. Ernst and Young estimates that these types of businesses “employ 54% of the private sector work force.” This tax hike squarely hits 1.2 million of these businesses that hire workers and have incomes above $200,000.
Rather than punishing just “the rich,” as Heritage’s Curtis Dubay notes, “By pinpointing his tax increase on incomes over $200,000, President Obama has maximized the detrimental impact that his tax increase would have on job creation.”
The Ernst and Young study on the impact of this tax hike showed that it could kill more than 700,000 jobs. This isn’t surprising, since the businesses it targets are some of the country’s most robust job creators. But it is surprising that a majority of the Senate would go along with this plan when the country is suffering from 8.2 percent unemployment.
As if that weren’t enough, the Senate’s actions would also raise the death tax from 35 percent to 55 percent. This confiscatory rate would hit small businesses and family farms exceptionally hard. Dubay explains:
The death tax is often portrayed as a tax that only rich heirs pay. In reality, the death tax hits family-owned businesses hardest. These businesses are valuable on paper because they have many assets that they need to make and sell their products. But the businesses’ book values are not representative of the families’ liquid assets. When a family member passes on, these families often have to sell all or part of the business to raise the cash to pay the death tax. This slows the growth of these businesses and in some cases forces them to lay off existing workers.
The Senate’s vote means we are no closer to preventing Taxmageddon, the nearly $500 billion tax increase scheduled to hit Americans on January 1. It is difficult to imagine the economy sustaining such a blow. Families will be hit with an average tax increase of more than $4,100 next year if Congress allows this to go forward. Instead of preventing this calamity, the Senate voted to raise taxes. It simply boggles the mind.
The State-Run-Media will tout it as an "Obama Win" and "Democrats protecting the Middle Class", and those who vote based on the Propoganda they hear will do so again.
Good Luck, Obamaland.
The “conservative” senator from Oklahoma Tom Coburn just gave WV Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin $2,500 because “he votes thinking about the long-term interests of the country.” Manchin voted in lockstep with the Democrats to raise taxes. Nice work, Tom. You’re a prime sucker!
At the age of 71 I was unable to find work. So I created a job for myself.
I purchased a failing franchise business called Goin’Postal. My son & I will run it & we will succeed despite what the gubmint does to us. This is still a free society where you work to succeed. So far.
I say SCREW EM.
I credit Mark Levin for exposing Tom Coburn for this rediculous move. Coburn should be at the top of the list of RINO’s for Tea Party candidates to topple in the primaries asap.
There are no moderate democrats. They are all Obama stooges.
My mom’s hairdresser owns her own shop and has for a long time. She’s a confirmed Democrat and LOVES Obama.
Lately she is complaining about all the government interference with small business owners.
Also, one of the first things people curtail in hard times is ‘non essential luxuries’... like a trip to the hairdresser. Guess who’s business has suffered?
Too late NOW!
I thought tax bills must originate in the House? How can the Senate introduce this?
This is just election-year posturing, nothing will actually be passed on any changes to the tax code until the next Congress is seated in January. This action was only meant to score some points with a particular segment of the electorate.
Get all the fools on your side and you got the majority in any town.
By then, Harry Reid may not have the Senate Majority Leader seat, and there may be a new President in the White House (which is an upgrade from the White Hut it has become).
Couple of big “ifs” right there, but really, the hard part of the campaign is yet to be fought out. Pray as if it all depended on the Lord, and work as if it all depended on you.
It might.
Article I
Section 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other Bills.
Apparently, the rules don’t apply to this _resident and this Congress. Whatever damage occurs after this, the rats OWN it.
Good question; however, the way the central socialist government under the phony president is more than merely confusing.
I’ve said this many times before during the tenure of this evil Obama regime, but Washington, D.C. continues to resemble Madrid in 1936.
There are many things that need to be changed and our future would look much better if everything enacted from 1912 on would be erased. The senators need to be selected by their respective state legislatures for a term of four years.
Voting rights? There is so much fraud connected with voting that not only do you have to have a voter registration card and a photo id, but you must be a property owner!
Sensible analysis.
So sell those dentist chairs, sell those autoclaves, sell the xrays, and the dental business will just hum along paying the 6 employees that still work there. They have no clue what a balance sheet is, cash flow, or P&L. They are financially, fiscally, and economically illiterate because of the socialist / fascist / statist mindset.
What a bunch of dangerous, incompetent morons!
Agreed, but Senate can propose and send it to Congress for approval. This is largely symbolic. I hope small business owners are paying attention.
This is a great example of why we need to repeal the 17th amendment. Popular Senate elections have degraded the proper political system in this country. Senators used to be representatives of the governors. Now they're just popularly-elected lackeys with their own agendas.
You are right and they can’t. Just another Harry Reid dog and pony show.
Something will happen - the tax cuts are expiring, so every taxpayer will pay more if nothing is done to extend all or part of the Bush tax cuts.
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