Washington, Jul 17 -

House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) today issued the following statement on a new Ernst and Young study that shows the president’s small business tax hike will cost our economy jobs:

“The evidence continues to mount against the President’s tax plan. This week’s U.S. Chamber of Commerce small business survey shows that 90 percent of small business owners believe the impending fiscal cliff is contributing to economic uncertainty, and almost 60 percent believe that the expiration of 2001 and 2003 tax rates will directly impact their business’s growth. Today’s Ernst and Young study is more proof that small business job creation would be hindered by the President’s proposal to raise taxes on about 900,000 small companies, costing more than 700,000 jobs. Raising taxes is exactly the wrong policy as our nation struggles to recover from the greatest recession since the Great Depression. Small businesses make future hiring decisions based on current and future tax policy, but they’re handicapped by the uncertain tax landscape that Congressional Democrats appear to be satisfied with. 

“While House Republicans are focused on jobs, the President and Congressional Democrats continue to play politics with the issue of expiring taxes at the year’s end. Dividing the nation based on class envy may be effective politics, but it doesn’t address our nation’s most pressing problem – jobs.”  

On April 18, 2012, the Committee held a hearing titled, The Tax Outlook for Small Businesses: What’s on the Horizon? Small businesses testified that the uncertainty about upcoming tax rates and new taxes in the health care law present a significant challenge to their ability to hire and invest in their companies.

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