The politically charged debate over high-income tax cuts is reaching a fever pitch, and the question on everyone’s lips is whether small businesses’ hiring ability will suffer if these cuts expire. Scientific opinion polling released last week shows what real small business owners think, and it might surprise you. The majority of small employers in the poll — more of whom identify as Republican than Democrat, an important distinction given the partisan nature of this debate — believe allowing tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent to expire at the end of the year is the right thing to do in light of our budget crisis.
The truth of the matter is that small business owners are far more concerned about improving economic conditions for the middle class — a category virtually all their customers fall into and which 97 percent of them are part of, too. According to an independent telephone poll we released last week, 86 percent of small business owners oppose increasing tax rates for household income below $250,000, and 7 in 10 strongly oppose it. What’s more, a 52 percent majority supports letting cuts on household income above $250,000 expire.