Give tax breaks to businesses: Geithner

[OhioChick]

Source: Reuters

10 Sep, 2010, 04.49AM IST,REUTERS

WASHINGTON: US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urged congressional support for tax breaks for small businesses and said that would help create jobs. "There are much, much more effective things we can do to help businesses get people back to work, like passing these tax incentives for businesses across the country," he said in an interview.

The US Treasury chief has been making the rounds of television networks, trying to build support for the Obama administration's call for extending tax cuts for middle-class Americans but letting them end on schedule for the wealthiest. Republicans have called for tax breaks, scheduled to end this year, to be extended for all income classes. Geithner repeated that it a permanent extension of tax breaks for those earning $250,000 a year or more, would require borrowing $700 billion from future generations and said the country can't afford to do so.

"It's not going to do much for growth, it's not going to do much for businesses, it's not going to get people back to work," he said. But he said allowing tax breaks to continue for middle-income families was not only affordable but also was good policy in the current circumstances with the economy still struggling to gain momentum. He said doing so would mean that 98 per cent of small business owners would not face a tax increase.

"Our job is to try to figure out what is the best package of measures that we could put in place today to help businesses get Americans back to work," Geithner said. "Our judgment is, and I think there's very broad support for this judgment, that the most effective thing we can do is provide more tax incentives for businesses and extend these tax cuts to the middle class." Democrats are facing potential hefty political losses in November congressional elections, with little time left to try to get lawmakers to approve any new tax proposals.


Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/Give-tax-breaks-to-businesses-Geithner/articleshow/6527822.cms

[Skink]

1. just pay your taxes Timmy.

[Better Today]

2. Then he's an idiot. Most of the small businesses that need help

won't be paying any taxes any time soon because they have no customers. Small businesses need loans to hold over till we get our customers back, and people in general need jobs so we can get our customers back.

[Mojambo]

3. Demand. They need to stimulate demand. n/t

[m00nbeam]

15. Precisely

[Mojorabbit]

16. +10000 nt

[unkachuck]

4. "...they have no customers."

....absolutely....

....until people have money in their pockets and are willing to spend it, nothing is going to change very much....

....if we're going to give tax-breaks or hand-out more free money, we should put it in the pockets of the people who will spend it....

[realisticphish]

5. not to mention

that "small businesses" is just a code for "any large corporation or wealthy republican donor"

yeah, small businesses would be affected, but they don't give a shit about them. If they did, they would say "lets make any business below a certain income pay less in tases"

[nyy1998]

7. Um, to be fair, wouldn't Republicans support such legisilation?

Last I checked, they're the ones holding up the bill that would assist "any large corporation or wealthy republican donor"

[realisticphish]

8. true

I guess I'm just thinking more in general. I always hear that meme when people start talking about flat taxes, or any tax that impacts those above the $250,000 limit. They shriek about it impacting small businesses, yet rarely counter with something that only removes the tax increase (or extends the tax cut) for small businesses. They just refuse the concept entirely.

IMHO, that's because they can use the small business as a shield to deflect any reduction in tax cuts for the individually wealthy. I realize that this isn't all republicans (and, as I reread the article closer, I can see he was putting forward just such an idea)

[activa8tr]

11. Republicans won't support anything that has Obama's name attached

to it. This has been proved over and over in the last 18 months.

[nyy1998]

14. Agreed, this is the likely reason

Not some "republican donor or large corporation tax cut"

[Dr.Phool]

6. Giethner, Goolsbey, Summers, Bernanke..

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Throw in Rubin and a few more, and you've got a whole stable. Riding us all he way to Chiledom.

[_ed_]

9. He's a Republican

Just remember that. He was registered as Republican in the 1990s and hasn't changed. Obama appointed a conservative Republican tax cheat who's only life expereinces involve Wall Street, the NY FED, and the FED.

We shouldn't be surprised when a Republican says things like this.

[cbdo2007]

10. they should give tax breaks to all companies with revenue under $1,000,000

They all say small business is so important but always lump small business with big business when it comes to this stuff, except that big business has all sorts of write offs and stuff so they get their tax rates lowered significantly.

My company has just a handful of employees and revenues less than $500,000 yet we pay way more taxes than many big corporations.

[wordpix]

12. "lump small business with big business" - right on, what's the definition of "small business?"

I run a small business that is not doing as well as it did some yrs. ago because people can no longer afford my professional services, which I've been doing for 20 years with great success, while non-experienced people (many college grads who can't find work in their chosen fields) are moving into my business space, claiming to be experts and charging less.

Another problem is the high cost of health insurance I have to provide for myself, my family and anyone who works for me. You can only go so low in your rates if you're to pay for that plus other business and living expenses. And I do not live high on the hog at all.

Until people are employed and paid a reasonable salary, small businesses will continue to suffer since the number of customers are decreased :(

Meanwhile, big corporations sitting on trillions of dollars don't need tax breaks.

[cbdo2007]

13. Well, the depends....

I would even say "small business" could go up to even $50 Million in revenue or more, just depends on the business. I'm always hesitant to say something like that on DU before people come out of the woodwork saying a business with $50 Million in revenue are "evil big corporation bad guys" not understanding what goes into a business and that even with those revenues the owners/managers are very likely NOT completely rich.

Yes, health insurance, taxes, etc. Hell, even basic business services we need to run...like for our business we need web storage, and they'll give us a small amount for X $$ per month, but a bigger company would get all of this cheaper because they can buy more in bulk.

We should definitely give extra breaks to small business but it seems like the world is all set up to give handouts all over the place only to big business.