Democrats “Bait and Switch” Small Business Owners
The Associated Press is out with a “Fact Check” piece this morning showing how for many struggling entrepreneurs, the small business tax credit included in Democrats’ health “reform” falls short. The story interviews Zach Hoffman, the owner of an Illinois furniture company with 24 employees earning an average of $35,000 per year – a small business paying modest wages by any definition. Yet the amount of the credit Mr. Hoffman calculated he would receive under the new law was a nice, flat number: ZERO.
As the article points out, this “fine print” – that many small businesses won’t qualify for the credit – was left out of Administration press releases touting the credit’s “broad eligibility.” What did this Illinois small business owner think of the White House propaganda campaign? “It leaves you with this feeling of bait-and-switch.”
Mr. Hoffman did figure out one way he could capitalize on the tax credit – he could “cut his work force to 10 employees and slash their wages.” But even he realized the results would be far from ideal: “That seems like a strange outcome, given we’ve got 10 percent unemployment.”
Any way you slice it, it’s clear that the small business tax credit is not for Mr. Hoffman or his workers – and it’s not “reform” either.