In a town hall speech he gave in Virginia, McCain claimed that Barack Obama's proposed tax plan would "increase taxes on 23 million small business owners." He stated that Obama's plan includes a required health-care tax on small businesses. This tax, he claims, would increase their costs of business, resulting, ultimately, in layoffs.
Unfortunately for McCain, this is an extremely flawed argument. The U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy estimates that, in 2006, there were 26.8 million business in the US, with 99.9% of them being "small" businesses (that is, those with fewer than 500 employees). That sounds kosher. The problem here is that the SBA considers everyone who reports $1,000 or more in business receipts as a "small business owner." That includes many people who don't own a business, but simply make a small bit of side income from freelance work. Many of these people, of course, do not operate a business at all, and don't have any employees that they could lay off (even if they wanted to).
Let's get the fact straight: As this radio ad released by Obama's campaign clarifies, Obama's plan only calls for increases in taxes on couples who make more than $250,000 a year in income, or singles making more than $200,000.
More info: FactCheck.org article.
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