CHENEY MISLEADS ON SMALL BUSINESS TAXES
During Tuesday's debate Vice President Cheney claimed that
John Kerry's plan to roll back tax cuts for individuals
making over $200,000 would negatively impact nearly a million
small businesses. Cheney said that, "about 900,000 small
businesses will be hit if you do, in fact, do what they want
to do with the top bracket."[1] The figure Cheney cited is
highly misleading.
Under Cheney's definition a small business is any taxpayer
who reports some income - even just $1 - from a small
business investment or partnership. By this logic, "every
partner at a huge accounting firm or at the largest law firm
would represent small businesses."[2] Also, by Cheney's
definition, President Bush would have counted as a small business
in 2001 because that year "he reported $84 of business
income from his part ownership of a timber-growing
enterprise."[3] The overwhelming majority of actual small businesses
are in the lower tax brackets and would be unaffected by the
Kerry proposal.[4]
Sources:
1. "Remarks of Vice President Cheney and Senator Edwards in
Vice Presidential Debate," The White House, 10/06/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2131193&l=61356.
2. "Misleading Assertions Cover Iraq War and Voting
Records," Washington Post, 10/06/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2131193&l=61357.
3. "Are Bush and Cheney "Small Businesses?" Their Ad Counts
Them As Such," FactCheck.org, 10/01/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2131193&l=61358.
4. Ibid,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2131193&l=61358.
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