CNBC Rebuts Obama’s SOTU Statement on Taxes
During his State of the Union speech, President Barack Obama said he wanted to “simplify” the tax paperwork required for small businesses, but CNBC’s Jim Cramer pointed out that Obamacare is doing just the opposite.
Obama had said during his State of the Union speech on Jan. 20, that a small business owner should be able to file taxes “based on her actual bank statement instead of the number of accountants she can afford.”
However, Cramer, co-anchor of CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” said on Jan. 21, that Obama’s very own health insurance initiative had already increased, rather than decreased, the complexity of tax accounting for small businesses.
Cramer said that the president’s statement was “a little out of sync with what's really happening,” because Obamacare had actually increased small businesses’ dependence on accountants.
“You have to hire accountants to deal with ACA, the Affordable Care Act. You can't figure it out without them,” Cramer said.
Cramer also criticized Obama’s call to increase taxes on the investments of wealthier Americans, which Cramer said would “cost a huge amount of money for wealthy people.” He said that an even larger share of the income earned by individuals like him would go to the government if Obama’s plan succeeds.
“If you got everything approved, 56 percent of what I make each year would indeed go to taxes. And I regard that as somewhat high,” Cramer said. He later quipped, “When do I get paid? Labor Day?”
