As reported on the blog of the Main Street Alliance, NWFCO’s national coalition of small business owners, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley hosted a press conference call with state and national small business leaders on Wednesday, November 17. The purpose was to discuss the small business case for ending the Bush tax cuts for the top two tax brackets on schedule at the end of this year.
Jim Houser, Co-Chair of the Oregon Small Business Council and a national board member of the Main Street Alliance, joined the call. Jim and his wife Liz own Hawthorne Auto Clinic in Portland and employ 14 people.
Jim said, “These tax cuts for the richest two percent are no help to small businesses like mine. We need policies that actually help small businesses by restoring consumer purchasing power and spurring demand. Extending federal unemployment benefits would produce 6 to 8 times the economic impact in terms of job growth compared to the tax cuts. And that’s just one example.”
When the Congressional Budget Office studied different options for jumpstarting economic growth and evaluated the Bush tax cuts among a set of 11 policy options, the tax cuts came in last of all 11 options. Jim added, “If we’re serious about helping small businesses and kicking the economy back into high gear, extending the high-end tax cuts will only throw us into reverse.”