On Wednesday, President Obama endorsed a House committee’s plan to ensure American taxpayers will face a higher top marginal tax rate than either communist China or Cuba.
This plan, which would have the American taxpayer facing an average top marginal tax rate of over 50%, in some cases a almost world-record high 57.5%, goes against the complete economic consensus that you should never, ever raise taxes in the middle of an economic downturn. Doing so will only destroy jobs, slash economic growth, and drive down living standards across the country.
The Heritage Foundation has put together a chart breaking down by state the millions who would be affected by this – the vast majority of them small businesses. Even by their conservative estimate, over a million small businesses, who between them would employ tens of millions of people, would be hit by this surtax. All these jobs could be potentially in jeopardy. If enacted, this surtax combined with the business-killing “employer mandate”, and plans to reinstate the Death Tax, could well signal the deathknell of small business in America.