Washington D.C. – Dave Camp (R-MI), Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee, today questioned the Obama administration’s contradictory approach of offering new loans to the nation’s small businesses just weeks after proposing massive new tax hikes on these employers.

“The President’s budget imposes historic levels of new taxes on small businesses at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars and an untold number of job losses,” said Camp.  “Is a loan program barely worth a fraction of those higher taxes really going to make a difference?  I doubt it.  If the Administration is serious about helping small businesses and creating jobs then it will back away from its plan to raise taxes on over 3 million small businesses.”

According to the Tax Policy Center (TPC), a research organization often cited by Democrats as having the most reliable estimates outside of government, over 3 million taxpayers with small business income will face higher taxes under the Obama budget outline.  Furthermore, TPC states nearly 2/3 of those paying higher taxes under the Obama budget outline will be small businesses.

“Small businesses are making future investment choices today,” said Camp.  “Signaling a tax hike on these employers will only prolong the recession.  This is the worst time to be raising taxes, and providing a small fig leaf today is not nearly enough to cover the damage those higher taxes will do.”