And the facts of life of starting a business is that in the initial years you work long hours with low income, which is made up for by higher income in the later years. But if the income in the later years is taxed heavily, you might as well be an employee of an existing company.
Looking at what I just wrote above, you might see the reason why some affluent people support Obama: they might pay more in taxes (or not, depending on how good their accountant is), but by killing new business startups Obama ensures that they will have less competition to worry about, and thus higher incomes to compensate for the higher taxes.
That’s a good point. I never looked at opposition to tax cuts as a form of rent-seeking behavior, but not that you point it out, it makes perfect sense.