Uncertainty From Washington Hampering Job Creation
Patrick Tyrrell /
Businesses have to deal with nearly unprecedented levels of uncertainty due to Washington’s inability to give them a clear roadmap of what policy changes lay ahead. A large part of this uncertainty is about the level of future taxes and increased regulations. Businesses are reluctant to hire when they could be facing additional labor costs due to government policies. This, at a particularly vulnerable time due to the credit crunch and financial crisis, spells a death sentence for many small businesses, and stunts the growth of others. The health care debate typifies what has become all too clear to political observers—that liberals in Washington will jam through Congress whatever high-tax-and-spend legislation they can. Whether or not the American people want the new rules and regulations to them is of no concern. Most importantly, this leaves the small business owner in the dark when preparing for the future.
The problem is that businesses don’t know if liberals will get their way or not. Unforeseen circumstances such as the recount that brought Al Franken to power in Minnesota, or the upset victory of Scott Brown in Massachusetts can not be predicted before they occur. Those events changed what type of laws Congress could legislate with a disregard of the willingness of the American people, and changed the political landscape that small business owners have to deal with. Will they have to pay thousands of dollars extra per employee for government mandated health insurance or won’t they? Will they have to pay a 45 percent death tax on their business’s assets when they die, or will they pay a zero percent death tax? Whether or not the healthcare bill will be enacted into law, or whether financial regulations will be tightened to prevent future financial crises, will at least indirectly affect small business owners who must plan for the future, which is currently uncertain and unpredictable. It makes a difference regarding how much money business owners have to hold in rainy day funds for rain that may never arrive. If the rain isn’t coming, these business owners would gladly invest in growing their businesses instead. (more…)