Small Business Tax Cut Act - Another GOP Scam

For the GOP, it's business as usual. Just the "same ole, same ole"...take from the poor to give to the rich. They're relentless, they never stop trying!

(Below) Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan, trying to push austerity on the middle-class while cutting taxes for the wealthy.

The Small Business Tax Cut Act of 2012, sponsored by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), would slash taxes on the adjusted gross income of as many as 22 million small businesses -- those with fewer than 500 employees -- by as much as 20 percent for one year. It would add $46 billion to the deficit.

The measure, approved on a mostly party-line 235-173 vote, will die in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and for good measure: The White House warned of a veto by President Barack Obama, saying the proposal is far too broad and generous to the wealthy.

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) said, "Congressional Democrats think we can tax our way to improve our economy", but he doesn't mention that raising taxes on the very wealthy (just a little) could decrease the national debt, the GOP's biggest talking point. The Republicans want to accomplish this solely on cutting programs that the poor and elderly rely on, without having to make the top 1% participate in any "shared sacrifice".

He goes on to bloviate, "Congressional Republicans, once again today, will stand with small business across the nation." But he neglects to mention what type of small businesses they're standing for (e.g. hedge funds, private equity firms, etc.) Democrats complained that the bill would provide tax breaks whether companies hire additional employees or not, including to firms that fire workers. They said its beneficiaries would also include lobbyists, lawyers and pornography businesses.

I have a whole list of "small business entrepreneurs".

The measure, by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., would provide a one-year, 20 percent tax deduction for companies with fewer than 500 workers. As examples of who would benefit, Cantor's office listed firms like the Academy of General Dentistry to the World Golf Foundation. Missing from Cantor's tally was the National Federation of Independent Business, the country's highest-profile small business organization.

Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) said, "It's a boon for the rich, the very antithesis of smart tax reform, and it does nothing to create opportunities for middle class, let alone poor Americans."

The tax break would cost the government $46 billion in lost revenue — money that would add to deficits that are already huge. Catching Democrats' attention was an estimate by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, which studies tax legislation, that almost 50% of the bill's benefits would go to employers making more than $1 million annually (the Republican's biggest supporters).

Just recently the Republicans have already stopped a Democratic measure in the Senate that would have imposed Obama's "Buffett Rule" taxes on people earning over $1 million a year.

Eric Cantor argues that the average $6,500 tax break resulting from his measure would serve as "a potent economic stimulus, which could spur growth by letting entrepreneurs keep more of their money to spend and reinvest as they saw fit."

He also says, "There's a study out, which shows that this bill, when fully implemented, will create an additional 100,000-plus new jobs." Yeah right, we've heard that before.

The Wall Street Journal just reported that " U.S. based multinational companies increased their work forces at home by only 0.1% in 2010 while expanding overseas employment by 1.5%". The expansion overseas came in a year when the private sector as a whole shed 0.6% of its U.S. workers.

Critics have argued that the benefits would disproportionately land in the pockets of wealthy individuals and businesses such as sports franchises, financial firms and celebrities.

Eric Canter also doesn't tell us that Congress' revenue estimators, the Joint Committee on Taxation, has calculated that the top 11% of small businesses would grab 64% of the break, while 125,000 firms with $1 million a year in adjusted gross income would snag 18.3 percent. The 9.2 million REAL middle-class small businesses at the bottom of the income heap would share a meager 15% of the break.

But most "thinking people" have already to come to realize that almost ANYTHING the GOP ever proposes is mostly just benefiting the already-wealthy. When was the last time the Republicans ever proposed something that JUST helped the middle-class and/or poor? Never.

They just punch lines like, "When was the last time a poor person hired you?" Mitt Romney made $20 million last year and will only owe about 15% in incomes taxes, when was the last time he hired anybody? How many people work at Bain Capital? Less than 500 people?

The bill "is not focused on cutting taxes for small businesses, but instead would provide tax cuts to the most fortunate," the Obama administration noted in a statement. "Under the bill’s definition of income, many of the 'small businesses' that would receive the largest tax breaks are law partners, consultants, and other wealthy individuals and corporations with the biggest profits. The proposal is a giveaway that will cost $46 billion and could, in fact, lead to delays and reductions in investment and hiring."

The White House argued that a more "targeted" approach that simplifies tax rates and encourages new hiring would be better. "If the President is presented with H.R. 9 (Eric Canter's Small Business Tax Cut Act of 2012), his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill," the administration's statement concluded.

One would think that by now, Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan would realize that we're on to them by now, and they would try to change their tactics and be a little more subtle. But they're relentless, they just keep on trying!

It's like the little boy would cried "wolf". One of these days, if they Republicans were ever to propose something that was really fair and sane, no one would believe them anymore.