“Small businesses are struggling because they have to contend with too many taxes and regulations,” Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council President Karen Kerrigan warned in an Associated Press interview this week.  At a recent hearing of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax & Capital Access, several small business owners confirmed that the president’s small business tax hike and onslaught of excessive regulations are making it harder to create jobs.  As Doug Harmon, CEO of Twin City Die Castings explained:

“For manufacturers like me, this tax cliff or taxmageddon is a serious threat. Come January 1, 2013, some $500 billion in tax increases will hit the U.S. economy, which already suffers from a weak economy and an uncompetitive tax code. …

“Not knowing whether or not Congress will renew the [current tax rates] … is keeping many die casters and for that matter most manufacturers from investing as much as they could to grow their business, purchase new equipment and hire more employees. …

“Furthermore, if their taxes are increased, they will be forced to reduce wages and/or delay wage increases to their employees, as well as impacting their workers benefit packages.”   

Despite President Obama’s failure to lead, House Republicans are listening to small business job creators, and taking action to address the threat of a massive tax hike and blitz of burdensome regulations that are preventing them from putting more Americans back to work:

• Stopping the President’s Small Business Tax hike that Will Destroy 700,000 Jobs.  President Obama is standing in the way of a solution to the sequester he is responsible for by demanding a tax hike on small businesses that Ernst and Young says will destroy more than 700,000 American jobs.  According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the president’s tax hike will hit more than 900,000 small businesses, at a time when they are creating zero jobs and “not planning to boost hiring or increase investment spending any time soon.”  The House voted to stop the president’s small business tax hike and to move forward on pro-growth tax reform that will help bring home some of the jobs that have gone overseas. 
• Rolling Back the Obama Administration’s Excessive Red Tape.  According to a newly released analysis by the American Action Forum, the Obama administration has imposed “more than $488 billion in regulatory costs since January 20, 2009,” and increased the total paperwork burden on job creators to 10.38 billion hours per year.  With the Plan for America’s Job Creators, House Republicans have passed nearly 40 bipartisan jobs bills, many of which target excessive regulations that are driving up energy costs, destroying American energy jobs, and creating obstacles to private-sector growth.  The House will move that effort another step forward with passage of the Stop the War on Coal Act this week that will put a stop to several of the Obama administration’s most damaging new energy regulations, and hold the administration accountable for the economic impact of several others.  Senate Democrats have blocked the majority of the bipartisan, House-passed jobs bills, while 23 million Americans remain unemployed, underemployed, or haven given up looking for work in the Obama economy.

House Republicans are relentlessly focused on jobs, and will continue working to create a better environment for small businesses to grow and hire new workers.  President Obama ought to support that effort by calling on Senate Democrats to act on the nearly 40 House-passed jobs bills they are blocking, and working with Republicans to replace his sequester that threatens our economy and our security.