Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the Reid-Baucus tax extenders bill before the Senate includes several provisions that, to my knowledge, have never been vetted by congressional tax writers either in the Senate Finance Committee or in the House Ways and Means Committee. As an accountant with practical expertise in tax matters, this disturbs me greatly. It should also disturb the small business owners because there is a provision in this bill that would slap them in the face with a 15- percent tax increase. I am talking about the provision that would apply a 15.3-percent self-employment tax to the distributions of certain subchapter S corporations. Those are the small business corporations. This self-employment tax would apply when 80 percent of the gross income of the small business is attributable to three or fewer professionals in a professional services corporation. We are talking about the smallest of the small businesses. This is a $9.1 billion hit on a small subset of small businesses engaged in a service trade. I wonder, the next time an offset is needed, will the Senate go after all the small businesses, changing the Tax Code this same way? My colleagues on the other side of the aisle call this a ``loophole closer'' or an ``anti-fraud provision.'' I assure my colleagues this is neither. These words are convenient labels my colleagues use to defend tax-and-spend policies. The small business corporation provision is, however, a massive tax increase on small business.…”