Scott Hodge, President of the Tax Foundation -- a little group that knows something about taxes -- wrote an op/ed on CNN today urging Democrats not to raise taxes on the nation's job creators. In a time of record high unemployment, his wisdom would be smart to abide by. See the following excerpt:
Imagine the media and public outrage if President Obama had said at the outset of the BP oil spill, "Since Louisiana comprises less than 2 percent of the nation's population, the spill's impact on the entire economy is likely to be trivial."
Or the uproar he would cause by justifying budget cuts at the National Institutes for Health "because the 1.5 million Americans who will be diagnosed with cancer this year represent only 0.5 percent of the population so we are spending too much to benefit too few."
Preposterous examples, yes, but this is exactly how Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner recently justified allowing the tax cuts to expire for upper-income taxpayers.
In response to widespread concern, even among Senate Democrats, that the tax hike will hurt private business hiring, Geithner dismissed the worry as "a political argument masquerading as substance" because only 3 percent of business owners are profitable enough right now to have to pay the higher rates.