Save the small businesses!
Posted: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 6:45 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
Republicans, Economy
From NBC's Mark Murray
Anyone who follows American politics knows that words -- and their power -- matter.
After all, it's why one side says "estate tax" and the other "death tax"; it's why, regarding Social Security, one party calls it "privatization" and the other says "personal accounts"; and it's why, in the current health-care debate, Democrats refer to the "public option" and Republicans use the term "government-run."
Now in their criticism of the new House Democratic health-care bill, which would impose a surtax on individuals making $280,000-plus and families making $350,000-plus, Republicans are using this verbal twist: It's a tax on small businesses.
Here's House Minority Leader John Boehner
asking today: "We want to tax small businesses?"
Here's RNC Chairman Michael Steele
: “The Democrats’ priorities for health care reform are now clear: a government-run system financed on the backs of Americans and small businesses with higher taxes."
Here's Indiana Rep. Mike Pence: "The American people are looking for real solutions to create jobs and get our economy back on track, not another excuse to raise taxes on small businesses and working families."
And here's even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “The intention of this plan is to tax high income households, but the real victims would be America’s small business owners."
A Republican aide justifies calling a surtax on the highest income earners "a tax on small businesses," because most small businesses file as individuals. And if you raise taxes on the wealthy, many of them have small business income.
But not all small business owners, of course, earn $280,000-plus a year. And under the GOP's logic, you could call it a "millionaire's tax," since it will apply to millionaires.
Perhaps one reason why Republicans are calling this a small-business tax: Our June NBC/WSJ poll found that a sizable majority of Americans -- 62% -- support paying for health-care reform by taxing those making more $250,000.
All that said, Republicans do seem to have legitimate attack on this particular point: If the House bill becomes law, it could break President Obama's campaign pledge that no one would see their taxes rates go higher than they were during the Clinton years.
According to CongressDaily, "The surcharge would be assessed on an upward sliding scale, topping out so that millionaires pay the biggest share, rising for each income category again in 2013 if additional savings are not found. That could lead to a top rate approaching 45 percent, depending on how the final version is structured, as under the Obama budget plan the top tax brackets were already set in 2011 to revert back to the Clinton-era 36 percent and 39.6 percent rates."
