[DonaldC]

There is one aspect I don’t understand and maybe someone can help we out. When a business sees some kind of cost increase in an area, I understand they will adjust another area to compensate and remain competitive. But in this case, where every business is going to be hit with a tax increase, won’t this just be passed on to customers, like an immediate inflation hit?

[N. Theknow]

But in this case, where every business is going to be hit with a tax increase, won’t this just be passed on to customers, like an immediate inflation hit?

Ha Ha Ha!

Heavens no, my son.

Businesses just sit on mountains of idle ready cash and don't have to pass along costs to customers.

They make all their money from not filling millions of well-paying, executive level positions that would eliminate unemployment overnight if they were "patriotic" in their business practices.

Do I really need this < /sarcasm >?

What is really amazing is how many people blame cost of living or jobs going overseas on businesses and not on the real culprit: Big Government.

It's like blaming a person for moving out of downtown Detroit because they got tired of being robbed every day.

[Cicero]

Not if the customers can’t afford to pay it because their incomes are down or they have lost their jobs.

[griswold3]

The Obama administration is in the ‘bidness’ of picking winners and losers. They tend to exempt businesses with union labor from increased costs. So larger corporations will not have to pass these costs on.
Recently, Goldman Sachs and Warren Buffet announced a plan to ‘loan’ $500M to small businesses. Since neither are set up as normal banking institutions, is this a loan, or is it a ‘buy-in’?
If I were paranoid, I would consider these actions equal to the Bolshevik Revolutions, where the merchant class was the target.
Central planning doesn’t work very well with millions of small businesses competing. You need Big Government, Big Business, and Big Labor.

[arthurus]

It will be included in the price of the product. If that raises the price of the product beyond what the customer is willing to pay then the business must alter its product line or reduce its workforce or cut expenses some other way or go out of business. Cutting the workforce is the easiest way and the quickest. It is therefore usually the first way when the economy is bad because there is neither time nor sufficient cash cushion to experiment with other methods unless costs are immediately reduced- workers are laid off.

[Fredgoblu]

When a business sees some kind of cost increase in an area, I understand they will adjust another area to compensate and remain competitive. But in this case, where every business is going to be hit with a tax increase, won’t this just be passed on to customers, like an immediate inflation hit?

If that were the case, we could just raise the minimum wage to $1000/hr, and regulate ourselves to wealth and prosperity.