By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
GOP pushes broad business tax cut
Placeholder Image
Staff Report
Updated: Apr 19, 2012, 7:01 PM
Published: Apr 19, 2012, 7:38 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans pushed an election-year tax cut for nearly every employer in the country through the House on Thursday, ignoring a White House veto threat as they cast themselves as champions of small business and job creation. Democrats called the plan a budget-busting effort to funnel federal help to those who are already successful.

The $46 billion measure, approved on a mostly party-line 235-173 vote, lacked either suspense or any expectation that the plan would become law. The bill will die in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and for good measure, the White House warned of a veto by President Barack Obama, saying the proposal is far too broad and generous to the wealthy.

Its ultimate fate, though, was beside the point. With the economy and jobs the unrivaled top issues in this year's presidential and congressional campaigns, both parties were using the battle to underscore that they would make things better for voters while the other side would not.

"Congressional Democrats think we can tax our way to improve our economy," which will never work, said Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas. "Congressional Republicans, once again today, will stand with small business across the nation."

The measure, by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., would provide a one-year, 20 percent tax deduction for companies with fewer than 500 workers. That means firms could generally subtract 20 percent from their domestic incomes before calculating the federal taxes they owe.

Democrats complained that the bill would provide tax breaks whether companies hire additional employees or not, including to firms that fire workers. They said its beneficiaries would include hedge funds, lobbyists, lawyers and pornography businesses.

"What we have before us is the exact opposite of a jobs bill," said Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla. "It's a boon for the rich, the very antithesis of smart tax reform, and it does nothing to create opportunities for middle class, let alone poor Americans."

The tax break would cost the government $46 billion in lost revenue - money that would add to deficits that are already huge. Catching Democrats' attention was an estimate by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, which studies tax legislation, that 49 percent of the bill's benefits would go to employers making more than $1 million annually.

Democrats also noted that Congress' nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, which analyzes tax legislation for lawmakers, wrote recently that because the bill was tiny compared with the $15 trillion in annual U.S. economic activity, its impact on stimulating the economy would be "quite small."

Thursday's showdown was the second tax vote in Congress this week designed to transmit a political message. On Monday - a day before the Internal Revenue Service's deadline for tax returns - Republicans stopped a Democratic measure in the Senate that would have imposed Obama's "Buffett Rule" taxes on people earning at least $1 million a year.

House Republicans named their bill the "Small Business Tax Cut Act," though it would cover more than 99 percent of the country's employers, because that is how many had fewer than 500 workers in 2008, the most recent year for which Census Bureau figures are available. Cantor said he chose 500 as the cutoff because that is the definition for small business that the Small Business Administration uses.

Companies employing owners' relatives and workers who own small parts of the business would qualify for the reduction.

Obama has proposed a narrower way of prodding companies to add workers. His budget included creation of a 10 percent tax credit - an amount subtracted from a firm's tax liability - for smaller companies that add workers or increase salaries this year. That plan has an $18 billion price tag.

Cantor's office listed dozens of business trade groups and firms that were backing his measure, ranging from the Academy of General Dentistry to the World Golf Foundation.

"The short-term tax cut put forth in this bill is critical to franchise owners making decisions about hiring additional workers or expanding their businesses today," Judith Thorman, a vice president of the International Franchise Association, wrote Wednesday in a letter to lawmakers.

Missing from Cantor's tally was the National Federation of Independent Business, the country's highest-profile small business organization.

Asked for their view, federation spokeswoman Jennifer Cooper said in a written statement that the group "appreciates the continued focus from Congress to help small business with their tax burden."

Her statement made no direct mention of Cantor's bill, instead singling out for praise the reductions in individual income tax rates proposed in the House-approved GOP budget.
Raging wildfires in South force evacuations in Tennessee
1204Fire1
Fires blaze on the hills above Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Tuesday morning. Bruce McCamish Photography | The Covington News
Staff Report
Updated: Nov 29, 2016, 2:44 PM
Published: Nov 29, 2016, 2:45 PM

ATLANTA (AP) — Raging wildfires fueled by high winds forced the evacuation of thousands of people and damaged hundreds of buildings in a popular resort town on the border of the Smoky Mountains National Park as National Guard troops arrived early Tuesday to help overwhelmed firefighters.

Rain had begun to fall in some areas, but experts predicted it would not be enough to end the relentless drought that has spread across several Southern states and provided fuel for fires now burning for weeks in states including Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina.

The storms appeared to be taking aim at the nearly 28,000-acre Rough Ridge Fire in north Georgia and the nearly 25,000-acre Rock Mountain Fire that began in Georgia and then spread deep into North Carolina.

In Gatlinburg, Tennessee, officials said hundreds of homes and other buildings, including a 16-story hotel, were damaged or destroyed by flames. And preliminary surveys indicated that Westgate Resorts, with more than 100 buildings, and Ober Gatlinburg were both likely destroyed, according to a news release Tuesday morning.

Emergency officials ordered evacuations in downtown Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and in other areas of Sevier County near the Smoky Mountains while crews continue to battle the blaze, which also had crept to the edge of the Dollywood theme park. About 14,000 residents and visitors were evacuated from Gatlinburg alone, officials said.

No deaths have been reported, though several people were hospitalized with burns, emergency officials said in the news release.

Officials say there are about 1,200 people sheltering at the Gatlinburg Community Center and the Rocky Top Sports Park. Several other shelters have opened to house those forced from their homes. TV broadcasts showed residents streaming out of town just as rain started to wet roads.

Workers at an aquarium evacuated because of the wildfires were concerned about the thousands of animals housed there. Ryan DeSears, general manager of Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, told WBIR-TV the building was still standing and all workers had been evacuated late Monday. However, he said workers were anxious to return to check on the well-being of the 10,518 animals.

The rain forecast "puts the bull's-eye of the greatest amounts right at the bull's-eye of where we've been having our greatest activity," said Dave Martin, deputy director of operations for fire and aviation management with the southern region of the U.S. Forest Service.

The projected rainfall amounts "really lines up with where we need it," Martin said Monday. "We're all knocking on wood."

After weeks of punishing drought, any rain that falls should be soaked up quickly, forecasters said. It will provide some relief but won't end the drought — or the fire threat, they said.

Drought conditions will likely persist, authorities said. The problem is that rainfall amounts have been 10 to 15 inches below normal during the past three months in many parts of the South, authorities said.

"I think we racked up deficits that are going to be too much to overcome with just one storm system," said Mark Svoboda, director of the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

"I would say it's way too early to say 'Yes, this drought is over,'" Svoboda said. "Does it put a dent in it? Yes, but we have a long ways to go."

The rain also brings danger because strong winds at the leading edge of the storms can topple trees and limbs that can kill and injure firefighters, he said.

In Mississippi, trees were reported downed Monday in nearly 20 counties across the state. Sustained winds of 30 to 40 mph with gusts of more than 50 mph were reported and more than 2 inches of rain fell in some areas.

Power outages peaked at more than 23,000 statewide in Mississippi. Powerlines downed by winds sparked grass fires in four counties, said Greg Flynn, a spokesman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

The storms moved across Alabama on Monday night and fell on Georgia during the overnight hours. High wind warnings were issued for mountainous areas in northern parts of Georgia.

In South Carolina, the stormy forecast was giving hope to firefighters battling a blaze in the northwest corner of the state. The South Carolina Forestry Commission hopes to contain the Pinnacle Mountain fire by the middle of next week.
More rain was expected Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
___
Fuller reported from New Orleans. Associated Press writers Rebecca Yonker in Louisville, Kentucky; Jeff Amy in Jackson, Mississippi; Beth Campbell in Louisville, Kentucky; and Jack Jones in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.