House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) warned Wednesday afternoon that raising taxes on small-business owners, which he said would happen under the Democratic tax plan, would be a "very big mistake."
"It's time to put the rhetoric aside. It's time to put the politics aside," Boehner said in one of his infrequent remarks on pending legislation on the House floor. "I know we're in an election year, but my goodness. Raising taxes at this point in this economy is a very big mistake."
Boehner encouraged all House members to approve the GOP bill extending all current tax rates for all taxpayers, as he said many Democrats agreed to do in 2010.
"Two years ago, the president said we shouldn't raise taxes in this time of a slow economy. I agreed with the president," Boehner said.
"And here we are, some 18 months later, economic growth is actually slower than it was when President Obama made those remarks, and yet the president wants to go out and raise taxes on the so-called rich."
Boehner said that while Democrats claim the bill would raise taxes on the wealthy, their proposal would hit many small-business owners that would otherwise be able to create jobs.
"Let me tell you who the so-called rich are. About a million of those people that you want to increase taxes on are small-business owners," he said.
"You want to tax a million small-business owners," he said to Democrats. "Ernst & Young has come out and made it clear that if you do this, 750,000 jobs are going to be destroyed, at a time when American people are asking, where are the jobs?"
Boehner spoke during debate on the House GOP bill, H.R. 8, which the House is expected to approve later Wednesday evening. Democrats will also get a chance to offer an amendment to the bill that reflects the Senate-passed bill, which would increase taxes on individual income above $200,000 and family income above $250,000.
