Obama’s tax hike will hit small businesses

President Barack Obama has often joined the chorus of those who praise small businesses as the economic engine that drives American jobs. Apparently, he thinks the engine might be running too fast.

The president's proposal to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire for everyone except those making more than $250,000 a year hits small business owners square in the eye.

The president must not understand the basic principles of the free market system, proposing that the most prolific job creators in our nation are hit with a tax hike at a time when what they need are additional incentives to invest and grow is counterintuitive.

The president may claim that his tax hike will not affect most small business, but again, such a statement reveals a basic misunderstanding of how millions of U.S. small businesses actually operate.

A 2011 study by the U.S. Treasury Department found that about 4.3 million small businesses employ workers and about 28 percent of them fit into the category that would be slammed by the president's tax increase. The president seems to think that discouraging hiring by nearly 30 percent of the small businesses that employ workers is not a problem.

Small businesses have accounted for more than 65 percent of new jobs during the last 15 years. It is my hope that we foster these companies and let them expand. I urge Congress to keep the tax rates as they are so that they help create more opportunities for small businesses.

David Tammel

Cedar Rapids