At Wednesday’s Ways and Means markup, Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) also identified Larry Flynt, Donald Trump and abortion providers as among the potential beneficiaries of the GOP proposal. Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking member on Ways and Means, cited a Tax Policy Center analysis that said that those making north of $1 million would get 49 percent of the tax cut’s benefits.
{mosads}The DCCC release was also sent to the districts of Reps. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.), Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.), Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) and Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), all of whom the campaign committee sees as potentially vulnerable.
Republicans have said the small-business tax cut, which has been championed by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), would give needed assistance to small businesses while policymakers work toward a comprehensive overhaul of the tax code.
GOP lawmakers have pushed a similar proposal in past years. But, unlike those measures, the current $46 billion legislation does not exempt financial services providers, country clubs and professional sports teams, among other industries.
Under the measure, which the House hopes to pass by around the mid-April tax deadline, eligible businesses would get to deduct 20 percent of their 2012 income, and the tax cut would be limited to 50 percent of a company’s W-2 wages.
Senate Democrats have unveiled their own small-business tax cut that would be available to companies that add payroll, either by bringing on new employees or offering raises to current workers.