DeMint: Many taxpayers won’t be happy if tax cuts expire next year

Republican Senator Jim DeMint says the federal tax cuts put in place under the Bush administration will expire in January and that’s making businesses large and small very uneasy. He says they’re not likely to make investments back into their businesses because they don’t feel supported by the Obama administration.

DeMint, a former small businessman himself, appeared on Columbia talk radio WVOC on the Keven Cohen Show.

Businesses don’t know what their taxes will be next year, their health care costs, their energy costs, they don’t know if they’ll be able to get credit. They’re just waiting to see if there’s a change in November that might put some checks and balances on what the Obama administration can do.

DeMint says Republicans don’t want to lower taxes; they just want to keep them where they are.

The Bush tax cuts are our current tax rates. We’re trying to stop the largest tax increase in history. Some folks are saying we’re trying to cut taxes. If you don’t do anything in the next four months, everyone’s taxes are going to go up.

DeMint says a lot of South Carolina residents will feel increased economic pressure next year if the tax cuts are allowed to expire.

A couple with a combined income of $80,000 is likely to pay $2,200 more in taxes next year. It’s hard to plan with that over your head. And dividends will go from 15 percent to 40 percent.

About the federal stimulus funds, DeMint says the American economy isn’t doing any better right now because you can’t stimulate an economy by growing government and debt.

Concerning the Medicaid bill that will save 2,600 teacher jobs in South Carolina–the measure that the president signed Tuesday, which DeMint voted against last week–DeMint says it’s just a bailout that requires borrowing more money. He says the country will just be in more debt next year.