Obama vs. McCain—The Battle for the Small-Business Vote
Here's another breakdown of where Barack Obama and John McCain stand on small-business issues, taken from their own platforms.
One interesting tidbit about Obama's specific small-business plan: He's secretly Mark Cuban. A few months ago, Cuban wrote on his blog about getting rid of all taxes on small businesses. Obama wants to do the same thing, but only with capital gains taxes. Here's what the Blue MauMau website says on this point:
Provide Zero Capital Gains and Other Tax Relief for Small Businesses and Start-ups: Barack Obama believes that we need to reduce burdens on small-business owners, many of whom are struggling to succeed as healthcare and energy costs continue to skyrocket. Barack Obama will also eliminate all capital gains taxes on small and start-up businesses to encourage innovation and job creation. Obama will support small business owners by providing a $500 "Making Work Pay" tax credit to almost every worker in America. Self-employed small business owners pay both the employee and the employer side of the payroll tax, and this measure will reduce the burdens of this double taxation.
Of course, this would run into some of the same problems with incentives for which I criticized Cuban's plan.
Tags: presidential election 2008 | small business | voters | Barack Obama | John McCain
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Reader Comments
Please THINK before you vote for Obama - I'm for McCain
I am a long term small business owner and a woman and I support McCain/Palin (and not because Palin is a women, I made my choice long before). I've owned more than one company in my business career so far and the latest one I've had for 16 years. I've never had over 10-12 employees so we've always been small. This is by choice and necessity because there is VERY little support from groups like the SBA and I've chosen to build our business on profits, not loans or venture funding.
Because we are an s-corp. building on profits means often times paying higher taxes at year end because we didn't spend all our profits and we get taxed on them personally rather we take the money out as stockholders or not. Most non-business owners DO NOT understand this. Many medical doctors, lawyers, CPAs and other small businesses may have similar tax burdens.
I see Obama as a threat to my business. I am actually making contingency plans for the first time in 16 years - expecting I may have to change dramatically to survive all the new "changes" he and the Democrats are proposing. I am expecting more and more people to take their money "off the table" if Obama wins - and that is scary because so much of our economy depends on that money. Please THINK before you vote for Obama - it may mean the end of many small businesses in America.
small business
i work for a small business. i think.....what is considered a small business. my boss says, who is a mccain supporter, that it has nothing to do with number of employees she has only how much the company makes. is this true and what if the company makes gross sales 4 million. is that a small business....there are about 16 employees and it is family owned...
25 Employees a Non Issue
I own a small business and just hired my first employee, we are now 3 and it took 9 years of prayer, hard work and intense labor. If the tax burdens were simply lifted then it would not have taken us 9 years to hire our first employee and now we would absolutely grow faster and hire more employees. When I got to my 26th hire I'd worry about what taxes would be at that time. I promise you this if I was to my 26th hire we would be in a much better position financially to accept those tax burdens then we are today. That much I do know! It has been a struggle growing all these years due to the tax burden on our small business. If it were gone that cash could go to expanding and hiring more employees. It sure wouldn't take us near as long to get to 26 employees as it has taken us to get to 1.
HOWEVER....This theory or idea is only a pipe dream. The taxes will never be lifted on small business. Government does not turn down a nickel, a dime or a penny for that matter. That's just life! The Bigobama plans reach further into the pockets of every American then I care to imagine.
As a small business owner WE will vote McCain in 08'. I will NOT be convinced by a bunch of idle rhetoric from a young man who has no experience, has never run a small business, governed a state, 7 houses, managed a Senate Office for 26 years, lead a Military Troop or anything else for that matter. The nominee for the Democrats has no clue what it takes to run a small business. He thinks his campaign contributions make him an athuority on balancing a budget. He buys ad space and his staffers get paid, then donors send in more money and the same thing goes round about. Where is the balancing act in that???
He wants to transfer everything I've worked so hard for in the last 9 years to people who don't deserve it. I make 1% of his income and have donated more money to charity then he has. I beleive I can decide what is the best way to spend my money. NOT BIG PARTISAN GOVERNMENT! My company falls in the crack of the BO plan to tax the "rich" and my company is by no means rich nor am I, just hard working trying to make a living. Two houses & one car.
Enough Said!
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