Chamber Issues Tax Day Call for Permanent Tax Relief

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Chamber of Commerce said the approaching April 15 tax day deadline serves as an important reminder to Congress and all Americans that unless lawmakers make the President's tax cuts permanent, massive tax hikes loom in the future.

"If all the President's tax cuts are allowed to expire, American workers will face the largest tax increase in our nation's history," said Bruce Josten, Chamber executive vice president. "These tax cuts have empowered small-business owners to create more jobs, put more money into the hands of consumers and moved this economy from recession to recovery in the shortest time possible. Now some want to raise taxes by letting these tax cuts expire. That's something taxpayers literally cannot afford to let happen."

Failure to make permanent the tax cuts enacted under President Bush could result in at least a $230 billion annual tax increase – an amount that dwarfs the $60 billion annual tax hike under President Clinton. Among the hardest hit will be individuals and small businesses, the majority of which are taxed at the individual rate. Increases in the marginal rate alone will balloon their taxes by $120 billion annually, according to the Chamber.

"Small businesses account for 75 percent of the net new jobs," Josten said. "Tax increases hit them doubly hard because they drive up the cost of doing business and cut into the money available to hire new workers. None of this is good for consumers, and it's certainly not good for Americans looking for jobs."

In addition to making the tax cuts permanent, the Chamber is working to make permanent the research and development tax credit and the increase in small business expensing. It also is working to reduce corporate and individual capital gains taxes, repeal the alternative minimum tax and eliminate the death tax, all of which place undue burdens on small-business owners.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector and region.

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