CNN takes apart GOP claim tax hikes on rich would be damaging to small business, 'job creators'

[flpoljunkie]

Emphasis mine

Greg Sargent's Morning Plumline:

* Fact check of the day: CNN takes apart the ubiquitous GOP claim that tax hikes on the rich would be damaging to small businesses and the nation’s “job creators”:

In sharp contrast to the rhetoric, current data suggests small businesses don’t create an outsized number of jobs, very few small business owners fall into the top two tax brackets, and tax cuts for small businesses are ineffective stimulus measures.

Relatively few small businesses would be affected: Extending the tax cuts for top earners for another decade would come at a significant cost — nearly $1 trillion in added debt over a decade. But small businesses wouldn’t see much of that cash. Only 2.5% to 3.5% of small businesses would be affected by an increase in those two rates.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/the-morning-plum/2011/03/03/gIQApxlkHL_blog.html

[dmallind]

1. Good to see - but a much simpler truth should always be the answer to such claims

All employee costs - from the smallest S corp to the biggest multinational - are tax free. Taxes and hiring are in no way connected - hiring is tax-free.

For more sophisticated audiences you can point out that spending on hiring can actually reduce taxes as it could drop an S corp's operating profit out of a higher bracket into a lower one, but for the masses the bolded part should be hammered home constantly

[kestrel91316]

2. I own a teensy weensy business and because my profit is so miniscule

raising taxes on upper and even medium levels of income would have zero adverse effect on me.

TAX THE WEALTHY.