Companies Sign Letter Against Higher Taxes in Budget

On March 24, 200 American companies sent a letter to Congressional leadership about the proposal in the Obama-Reid-Pelosi budget to repeal tax “deferral”.  Deferral allows companies to defer income into the future to avoid high marginal tax rates on income.  The letter claims that the repeal would unilaterally increase taxes on large American companies that deal internationally.  

A tax hike on business is one of the last things we need in a recession.  The letter claims that companies affected by the tax increase employ 22 million Americans.  Unemployment was just reported at 8.5 percent.  Higher taxes on these businesses will likely force them to cut spending somewhere.  Some of the cuts will be jobs.  If the administrations goal is to “create and save jobs”, then Congress and the president should not increase taxes on business–or anyone else for that matter.

Champions of tax increases likely don’t want to see higher unemployment, but their goals necessitate it.  If they really wanted to lower unemployment, they would lower taxes.