Yesterday the Senate failed to move forward the President’s plan to invest $35 billion in the states to help keep teachers, law enforcement personnel and firefighters from being fired due to budget shortfalls. The 60 votes were needed to keep the measure alive but all 50 of the GOP Senators voted against it.
So what was the reason for voting against keeping more of these essential workers on the job and thus keeping more money on Main Street for our small businesses?Â
The plan would have been funded by a 0.5% increase in taxes on income over $1 million. That’s not five percent; it’s one half of one percent.  But in spite of 64% of the public agreeing that asking millionaires to pay just a little more to help with jobs, the Senate Republicans said no. Not only did they say no, they said that they were just protecting 300,000 small business owners having a hard time with cash flow and credit.Â
Now, I don’t know if that 300,000 figure is accurate or not. The real number of taxpayers with some business income and making over $1 million is only 1% according to the Tax Policy Center. I’ll let someone else do the math.
But using any small business owner making over $1 million a year as an excuse not to help our nation’s economy is a ridiculous and illogical argument.
Any small business owner taking home this kind of massive income is not struggling with cash flow and credit problems. Period.Â
If a small business can afford to pay its owner over $1 million in compensation, that owner can afford to pay a half a penny more in taxes on every dollar over a million to help keep teachers and first responders on the job and more customer demand for the other 99% of small businesses.