Hatch to President Obama: There’s No Need to Fight

Utah Senator Says, “Instead of trying to pick a needless fight with Congress, the President should recognize that there is a growing bipartisan consensus to prevent all the tax hikes from hitting every tax-paying American on January 1st that could push our economy back into a full-blown recession.”

WASHINGTON – After President Obama announced today that he would support raising taxes that would hit a large number of small businesses, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, said that instead of “trying to pick a needless fight,” the President should recognize that there’s a bipartisan consensus to prevent all the tax increases that are set to hit on January 1, 2013 by extending all the tax relief a full year during which time comprehensive tax reform should take place.

“It’s hard to miss that it’s a Presidential election year. But, as last week’s jobs numbers show, too much is at stake for the President to be playing politics with our economy. Instead of trying to pick a needless fight with Congress, the President should recognize that there is a growing bipartisan consensus to prevent all the tax hikes from hitting every tax-paying American on January 1st that could push our economy back into a full-blown recession.

“Inexplicably, the President is calling for raising taxes on the top marginal tax rates that would increasingly hit more and more small businesses. Economists from across the ideological spectrum have said that with America’s economy as weak as it is, we should extend all the tax relief. It’s time for the President to drop the fake political fights, and do the right thing, as he did two years ago, by extending all the tax relief so we can undertake meaningful tax reform.

“This week the Senate is set to consider legislation that the majority says would help small businesses in this weak economy. If my friends on the other side of the aisle truly care about small businesses, as I know they do, then they should join us in stopping these tax hikes that will hit those very same people if the President has his way. If small businesses need help then the best thing we can do is stop all the tax increases.”

BACKGROUND:
Hundreds of thousands of small businesses would be subject to this tax hike immediately. According to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) approximately 940,000 flow-through businesses would get hit with the President’s proposed tax hikes on January 1, 2013.

In addition, more than half – 53 percent – of all flow-through business income will be subject to these tax increases. This is especially harmful to small businesses, because the vast majority of small businesses are organized as flow-through entities, such as partnerships, limited liability companies (LLCs), S Corporations, and sole proprietorships.

Furthermore organizations, such as the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have consistently called on the President to extend tax relief for small businesses to provide them with certainty so they can plan, invest and create jobs. Furthermore, top Democrats, such as President Clinton, Alice Rivlin, and Larry Summers have called for the extension of the 2001/2003 tax relief to avert the looming fiscal cliff and prevent the largest tax increase in America from taking place.

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