The White House today is hosting a “jobs summit” which is meant to discuss how to prevent further job losses (nearly 3 million since the stimulus passed).
 
“Employers are hesitant to create jobs because of looming threats on the horizon—threats caused by the policies pursued by President Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Leader Harry Reid,” said ATR President Grover Norquist.  “Job losses will continue and future job creation will be impeded until at least some of these dangers are removed:”

Looming tax hikes.  On New Years Day 2011, just thirteen months from now, job creators will see a tidal wave of new taxes.  The tax rate at which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed will rise from 35 percent to 39.6 percent.  Start-up firms looking to attract investment will see the capital gains tax rise from 15 to 20 percent.  Family farms and small businesses will see a death tax with a 55 percent top rate and a paltry $1 million exemption. How can businesses think about expanding in this tax environment?

Government-controlled healthcare.  The House and Senate are debating healthcare bills which put even more taxes on small businesses (the House bill creates a new “surtax” on them), and all employers (if they don’t purchase expensive health insurance for their employees).  With the fate of government-controlled healthcare up in the air, and the possibility of new mandates and taxes, who would take on more employees?

Forced unionization. Under the card check bill, entrepreneurs looking to expand their businesses and hire new employees will have to evaluate if they are bringing in a union organizer.  The unions will be allowed to bring government arbitrators to force businesses into binding contracts that determine wages, benefits, pension plans, etc. Approximately 600,000 jobs would be lost in the first year alone.

Energy taxes and regulations. Climate change legislation is quite possibly the single greatest threat to jobs today. If passed, the increased taxes, costs, and regulations will drive jobs out of this country at a staggering pace. Even if you consider the “green jobs” that proponents claim will be created, The Heritage Foundation found that 1,145,000 net jobs would be lost per year because of the Waxman-Markey bill.

Protectionism. While protectionist measures are often enacted for the purpose of shielding domestic industries from "unfair trade practices," all indications are that they instead punish the multiple industries that rely on imports for their material inputs such as steel and raw materials.  When input costs increase as a result of a rise in import tariffs, industries must cut costs elsewhere, the most likely being labor costs, meaning jobs.  This was the case in 2002 when an increase in the price of steel tariffs resulted in 200,000 American jobs lost.

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Posted by Ryan Ellis on Thursday, December 3, 2009 6:00 AM EST

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