"Give me more customers, and I will hire more people. Give me a tax break, and I will take my wife to Aruba."

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Meet the Front Group Leading the Fight Against Taxing the Rich

While most Americans don't object to Obama's plan to raise taxes on the wealthy, they're less excited about raising them for family-owned barbershops and ice cream parlors. This may be why Mitt Romney often claims that collecting more taxes from high earners would hurt mom-and-pop employers whose profits are taxed as individual income. "This is a direct attack on small business," he declared at a recent campaign stop in Virginia. His argument has the support of a powerful ally: the National Federation of Independent Businesses, a "nonpartisan" small-business advocacy group that has put defending the Bush tax cuts for the richest of the rich near the top of its political agenda.

Often cited as the leading voice of small business, the NFIB was founded in 1943 by a former U.S. Chamber of Commerce staffer who thought that business groups were neglecting the little guys. Today it claims 350,000 members, chapters in all 50 states, and a $95-million budget. In May, the Washington Post cited the NFIB to back up Romney's attacks on Obama's tax plan, reporting that the group had given an "F" to the portion of Obama's budget that deals with taxing the wealthy.

The NFIB's defense of the rich offers handy political cover for the Lear jet crowd, but few among the legions of small business owners that it represents will benefit from its lobbying. Only 3 percent of small businesses net more than $250,000 a year, the lowest income that would be affected by Obama's tax plan. This is one reason why a variety of rival small business groups now accuse the NFIB of doing exactly what it was founded to prevent: Selling out small business owners to benefit the rich and powerful.

"They have proved themselves to be just a shill operation for big corporations," says Rick Poore, the owner of DesignWear, a 35-person screen printing shop in Nebraska and member of the Main Street Alliance, a business association that disagrees with the NFIB on many issues. "People just jump onboard because it has all the right sound bites, but in reality so much of it is against their own best interests."

.....

Republican politicians have received 98 percent of the NFIB's $350,000 in political donations this year; unsurprisingly, they are embracing the group's increasing interest in the travails of the rich. Mitt Romney was quick to bring up the income tax issue in June when he spoke to NFIB members on a conference call: "One of the president's most burdensome and onerous policies with respect to small business is to raise the marginal tax rate," he said, referring to Obama's proposal to increase rates on the highest personal income tax bracket. "If you raise that from 35 to 40 percent, it means that less capital is staying in your business, less ability to grow your business, and less ability to hire people."

more....

http://www.motherjon...dent-businesses

Edited July 23, 2012 by Mister Fancypants

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Oh no! The evil capitalists!

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

"Give me more customers, and I will hire more people. Give me a tax break, and I will take my wife to Aruba."

That's exactly right. No business expands unless there is more demand for their product.

[mawilson 2,133]

What's the point? Taxing the rich doesn't solve anything (we're talking 70-80 billion a year? pfft) and angers a lot of people.

Edited July 23, 2012 by mawilson

[rocks 494]

What's the point? Taxing the rich doesn't solve anything (we're talking 70-80 billion a year? pfft) and angers a lot of people.

a lot of people? A lot more people are angered that they aren't taxed.

[mawilson 2,133]

a lot of people? A lot more people are angered that they aren't taxed.

You do know they can only play this card once. Once they raise taxes on the rich, those angry people won't be angry anymore and the Dems will have to find other sources of revenue. And that means *you*, because that's where the real money is. The rich is a pretty small group - you won't find enough money there to pay for everything you want.

[rocks 494]

You do know they can only play this card once. Once they raise taxes on the rich, those angry people won't be angry anymore and the Dems will have to find other sources of revenue. And that means *you*, because that's where the real money is. The rich is a pretty small group - you won't find enough money there to pay for everything you want.

You're so confusing. First it was "a lot of people" and now the rich is a pretty small group? Which one is it?

[mawilson 2,133]

You're so confusing. First it was "a lot of people" and now the rich is a pretty small group? Which one is it?

The rich are not the only people who dislike the class warfare rhetoric.

[rocks 494]

The rich are not the only people who dislike the class warfare rhetoric.

They aren't? Who else cares about the rich?

[^_^ 5,021]

They aren't? Who else cares about the rich?

You want names?

[rocks 494]

You want names?

YES! Give me a list so I can cross them off my xmas card list.

[mawilson 2,133]

They aren't? Who else cares about the rich?

Anyone who wants a job.

[Danno 1,228]

On principle I care about the rich or anyone else paying more taxes than I think they should in order to grow more govt..... which it then grows like a weed requiring more tax money or debt.

We need to starve Govt.. not fertilize it with more tax revenue.

[^_^ 5,021]

I care about all people. Or try to. Even the rich. Yes, some rich people got that way by being bad human beings. But not the vast majority. The vast majority got that way by not having a life and making all the right decisions.

[JohnR! 5,495]

They aren't? Who else cares about the rich?