Today's Wall Street Journal posted an article by Michael P. Fleischer, president of Bogen Communications Inc. in Ramsey, N.J. Mr. Fleischer explains why his is reluctant to expand his company and hire new people right now.
He explains the impact of the recently passed healthcare reform bill on his company:
"Every year, we negotiate a renewal to our health coverage. This year, our provider demanded a 28% increase in premiums--for a lesser plan. This is in part a tax increase that the federal government has co-opted insurance providers to collect. We had never faced an increase anywhere near this large; in each of the last two years, the increase was under 10%."
He uses the example of an employee named Sally to illustrate the impact of government programs on his company:
"When you add it all up, it costs $74,000 to put $44,000 in Sally's pocket and to give her $12,000 in benefits. Bottom line: Governments impose a 33% surtax on Sally's job each year."
He explains why he is not hiring right now:
"And even if the economic outlook were more encouraging, increasing revenues is always uncertain and expensive. As much as I might want to hire new salespeople, engineers and marketing staff in an effort to grow, I would be increasing my company's vulnerability to government decisions to raise taxes, to policies that make health insurance more expensive, and to the difficulties of this economic environment.
"A life in business is filled with uncertainties, but I can be quite sure that every time I hire someone my obligations to the government go up. From where I sit, the government's message is unmistakable: Creating a new job carries a punishing price."
If the Obama Administration truly wanted to see job growth, there would be no question about extending the Bush tax cuts--it would happen almost automatically. As far as stating 'the cost of the tax cuts', we need to remember that the money being discussed belongs to the taxpayers--not the government. Tax cuts DO NOT cost anything--they just put more money in the pockets of Americans. If you want to argue that some Americans are more worthy than others to keep their own money, you may be living in the wrong country.
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