Business for Shared Prosperity

For Immediate Release  January 25, 2012
CONTACT: Bob Keener, bobkeener@businessforsharedprosperity.org, 617-610-6766

Business owners and executives agree with President Obama that we should not “spend nearly $1 trillion more on what was supposed to be a temporary tax break for the wealthiest 2 percent.” Business leaders also agree that no company should be able to avoid paying its fair share of taxes by moving jobs and profits overseas.

“It’s wrong for millionaires to pay less than middle-class Americans and wrong for multinational corporations to pay less than small businesses,” said Scott Klinger, tax policy director of Business for Shared Prosperity. “The reality is that the corporate tax share of federal receipts has fallen from 32% in 1952 to just 9% now and income tax revenue as a share of GDP is at the lowest level since 1951. If we want an economy with 21st Century infrastructure, jobs, education, research and economic development, we have to pay for it.”

“As a successful corporate executive, I recognize that our tax code is unfair and replete with tax shelters and loopholes favoring the wealthy,” said Jack Kintslinger, chairman emeritus of the Maryland-based engineering and construction firm, KCI. “Most wealthy business executives I know are prepared to contribute more in taxes if the additional revenues are spent wisely. They know that they can spare paying higher taxes and that the nation desperately needs more revenue for essential services.”

“It's ridiculous to think that low taxes for wealthy individuals like Mitt Romney and me will help create jobs,” said Paul Egerman, co-founder and former CEO of eScription. “It certainly hasn't worked that way for the past 10 years. The real job creators in our society are middle-class consumers. Jobs are created when consumers purchase cars, for example. Jobs are not created when investors squirrel away money in the Cayman Islands. Those of us who are wealthy investors will benefit when middle-class consumers are economically secure and can afford products and services. And we have an obligation to pay forward, so that the next kid will have the same opportunities that we had.”

“I have been prosperously involved in small business for most of my 45-year working life and have never made a decision based on the marginal rate of my taxes,” said David A. Brown, co-founder of the California-based real estate development firm Reynolds & Brown. “I don’t know any businessperson who uses that as an investment criteria. The rate should be raised on the higher brackets to help fund all of the beneficial services only the government can provide. Both the expense and the revenue side of the government ledger need to be modified.”

** Business for Shared Prosperity members are available for comment in many states in addition to those quoted above **

To arrange interviews contact Bob Keener at 617-610-6766 or bobkeener@businessforsharedprosperity.org.

Business for Shared Prosperity is a national network of forward-thinking business owners, executives and investors.

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