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Beyer gets behind Obama
I own and run a small family business, and I am voting for Barack Obama.
With my sisters and brother, we manage a 35-year-old auto dealership group. These are the toughest times in our history, as so many customers are postponing new and used car purchases out of uncertainty about the economy.
The differences between Senator Obama and Senator McCain on the economy, on the things that matter to our business, could not be more dramatic or compelling.
First, Senator Obama promises to cut taxes for 95 percent of all working families, including 4.1 million Virginians. He understands that we need Middle Class Virginia to recover, to have buying power once again in order for our country to get back on the road of prosperity. Businesses, like mine, have watched the incomes of our customers fall as the cost of living has continued to rise. It is no surprise that in this tight environment, our customer’s credit scores have lost ground as well.
The McCain plan, however, leaves out tax relief for 100 million families. McCain offers $200 billion on new tax cuts for corporations and oil companies, not relief for the families of Virginia who need help most.
Second, the Obama health care plan will actually make it far easier for us to provide health insurance for our employees, giving us a 50 percent health care tax credit. The McCain plan does the opposite – he taxes the health insurance premiums we pay for our workers, cutting their take-home pay. Some independent analysts estimate that 20 million American workers will give up their employer-paid health insurance, rather than pay these extra taxes.
Third, Barack Obama will make great progress toward balancing our federal budget. John McCain’s plans actually move us more deeply into debt. McCain’s tax plan alone adds $5 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. Obama’s tax proposal cuts the deficit by $800 billion.
Running a family business, we learned long ago that we cannot spend more than we earn. I believe that the fundamental weakness in our economy and our society is our crazy reliance on borrowing from our children and grandchildren to pay for government spending that we are unwilling to sacrifice for today. Senators Obama and McCain both present themselves as fiscal hawks, but only Obama has pledged to cut a dollar of spending for every new program dollar he promises.
Fourth, Barack Obama will eliminate all capital gains taxes for 643,000 small Virginia businesses. Four out of five new jobs in America are created by small businesses. We cannot expect to work our way out of today’s financial crisis and economic slowdown unless our small businesses - the engines of our growth – are standing on solid ground.
And Senator Obama’s plans to eliminate the capital gains tax for small businesses will actually make a big difference in Joe the Plumber’s ability to buy or sell a small business.
Fifth, we are far more likely to get genuine estate tax relief from President Barack Obama. George W. Bush and John McCain promised to eliminate the estate tax, yet in eight years, with big Republican legislative majorities, little has happened. The rate will go back to 55 percent in just two years. Barack Obama will find the middle ground, the reasonable compromise that will allow family businesses and family farms to pass from generation to generation, while still appropriately taxing the billionaires of the country.
I am a businessman. I have an instinct for the bottom line. The bottom line in 2008 is that Barack Obama will be far better for America’s small businesses and for our economic growth than four more years of the failed policies of George Bush and John McCain.
Don Beyer is a Virginia automobile dealer, and the former Lieutenant Governor of Virginia.
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