The Senate Democrats' push for a 3.8% tax hike on small business owners making more than $400,000 a year is a "devastating proposal" for businesses that need all the money they earn to keep afloat, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer said on Newsmax, Wednesday.
"Our ranking member on Ways and Means, Kevin Brady, says this could be as high as 11% when you look at all the other factors involved in this," Luetkemeyer, a Missouri Republican, said on Newsmax's "National Report," adding that while $400,000 is a lot of money, it may not be so to a small business.
"If you're a small business, remember if you have mortgage payments or payments on your inventory, those payments come out of that $400,000," Luetkemeyer said. "You need every one of those dollars to be able to run your business, to be able to pay your debts, to be able to make investments."
Further, Luetkemeyer said he can't believe the Biden administration wants to "thwart the very people" who create two-thirds of the new jobs in the country and who employ 50% of the people.
"They are the ones who drive our economy," said Luetkemeyer. "This is being completely tone-deaf as to how your economy operates, how it runs, and who runs the economy."
Luetkemeyer also commented on the arrests of at least 16 Democrat members of Congress on Tuesday for protesting outside the Supreme Court Building, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., calling the incidents "foolish."
"Every American has the right to voice their opinion as long as it's done in a nonviolent way and nondestructive way," he said. "If they want to spend their time out there doing that, instead of taking care of all the issues that we have here in Congress and to be able to address all issues that their constituents need to have them work on, that's their choice to prioritize it that way. I think it's foolish.
"I think that they need to do their job here and I don't think being over there getting arrested and spending time in jail."
In other matters, Luetkemeyer commented on the law passed in the House on Tuesday to recognize same-sex marriage, saying that the measure was less about equality than it was a "political move."
"When I was back in Missouri, I started the movement with regards to defining marriage as between a man and woman," he said. "Later on in Missouri, we wound up passing a constitutional amendment to that effect, so I've been a long-time supporter of that stance and will continue to be so."
But the same-sex bill is a "game of gotcha," said Luetkemeyer. "This is a political move right now by the other side to try and define themselves differently than us to a certain group of their supporters. That's that's the politics of this place."
Meanwhile, Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, is set to address Congress on Wednesday, and Luetkemeyer said he believes she'll ask for continued help for her country. He believes the United States has an obligation to keep assisting Ukraine in its war with Russia.
"We made a commitment to these folks back in the mid-’90s," Luetkemeyer said. "We signed an agreement has said if they would give up their nuclear warheads, and at that time, they had the third-most in the world, we would support them should somebody try to attack them.
"If we're not willing to support them, who are we willing to support when it comes time to thwart communism and aggression around the world?"
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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