A quick listing of lies just from this 30-second ad. The question is, does Can’tor actually believe the falsehoods and distortions he spews?
1. “Most new jobs today are created by small business.” That’s not a lie, per se, but as the Wall Street Journal explains, it’s much more complicated than Can’tor implies. But let’s just give him this one for the time being, as it’s common rhetoric by politicians of both parties.
2. “But too many in Washington want to raise their taxes.” Uh, Eric? Can you name ONE person who wants to raise taxes on small business? Nope, didn’t think so. (Let me guess: Can’tor is conflating letting the Bush tax cuts expire for those earning over $250,000 per year with “raising taxes on small business,” even though that’s not the same thing at all?)
3. “…and pile on regulations that destroy their ability to grow.” This is a favorite straw man of Republicans, except there is ZERO evidence it’s true. As former Reagan Treasury official Bruce Bartlett wrote, “the number of layoffs nationwide caused by government regulation is minuscule and shows no evidence of getting worse during the Obama administration.” A McClatchy Survey found the opposite, actually: “None of the business owners complained about regulation in their particular industries, and most seemed to welcome it. Some pointed to the lack of regulation in mortgage lending as a principal cause of the financial crisis that brought about the Great Recession of 2007-09 and its grim aftermath.” In other words, this one is a huge, whopper of a Big Lie by Eric Can’tor. Does he know that? If so, does he care?
4. “My plan cuts the tax burden on small business by 20% and it reduces the red tape that’s strangling them.” The latter point, as we noted above, is completely bull****. In no way, shape, or form is “red tape” “strangling” small business in this country. Simply not true. As for Can’tor’s supposed “plan” to help small business by cutting their “tax burden,” Think Progress analyzed it and concluded that it’s a $46 billion “tax boondoggle…a windfall for rich people, many of whom, like hedge fund managers, owners of sports teams, celebrities, lawyers, and lobbyists are not most people’s idea of ‘small businesses.'” Even worse, according to this analysis, “actual small businesses” get a ‘big headache'” from Can’tor’s bill, as it adds “a complicated new provision to the tax code” and means that “small businesses would have more paperwork, more time wasted on tax filing, and more disputes with the IRS.” Nice job, Eric. That’s why we call you Can’tor.
5. Finally, with regard to Can’tor’s comment about the “power of people, not government,” that just encapsulates Can’tor’s cynicism in a nutshell. First of all, government in this country is supposed to be of/by/for the people. To the extent we have government of/by/for the corporations, that’s largely the fault of Republicans like Eric Can’tor. Of course, Republicans like Can’tor love to use government to redistribute wealth from the vast majority of taxpayers to the super-rich, the well-connected, the companies that donate heavily to their campaigns, the favored industries that are chosen by people like Can’tor as massive beneficiaries of taxpayer-funded corporate welfare. What a deal, huh?
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
