Wall Street Journal (12/05/12) Patrick O’Connor

At the same time President Obama is pressuring chief executives to support higher taxes for higher-income Americans, Republicans are courting small businesses with their argument that higher taxes will hurt them and put a damper on the economy. Some top chief executives are supporting Obama, with the hope that the higher tax rates will be accompanied by cuts in federal spending and entitlements and result in long-term economic stability. However, while Republicans insist that raising tax rates for high-income Americans will cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, research by the Tax Policy Center and the Congressional Research Service indicates that only a handful of small-business owners would be affected.