McConnell: President Wants Tax Hike for Small Businesses

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., quickly came out against President Obama's push for Congress to end the Bush-era tax cuts for those who making over $250,000 annually.The president spoke from the White House on Monday, arguing that he has cut taxes for the middle-class Americans and that 97 percent of all businesses would not see their taxes increase. It renews a previous fight between Mr. Obama and Republican lawmakers, but the proposal also puts the administration at odds with congressional Democrats who have called for extending the the cuts for everyone except people earning more than $1 million a year.McConnell says the proposal is a tax hike that will hurt job creators.From McConnell's office: "It’s not an accident that the President didn’t explain how his plan to raise taxes on small businesses will create jobs—he can’t say that with a straight face, it simply isn’t true. In fact, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, nearly a million small businesses would feel this tax hike right away, and up to a quarter of the entire American workforce depends on these employers for a paycheck. And since the President himself has previously acknowledged that this kind of tax hike is a drag on the economy, today’s proposal is clearly based on a political calculus, not an economic one. But in the Obama economy, we need policies that are designed to create jobs—not designed to protect his. No one should see an income tax hike next year—not families, not small businesses and other job creators. We should extend all the tax rates while we make progress on fundamental tax reform. And we should be focused on the pro-growth jobs legislation that the House has passed, while ensuring that Washington does no additional harm to an all-too-fragile economy."On Sunday, McConnell offered to extend the current tax rate another year and deal with comprehensive reform.