Oh, those poor "job creators"…they just can’t get any respect–except from Republicans, and too many Democrats, who run around undercutting jobs programs because of some phony idea that taxing the wealthiest Americans will hurt jobs. Oooopppsss…nope…

Embedded in the report out from the Congressional Research Service–which annoyingly doesn’t post reports publicly–which tell us this:

A quarter of millionaires in the United States pay a smaller share of their income in federal taxes than many middle-class families…

  …is an even more important fact:

Congressional Republicans have attacked the Buffett Rule, as well as the idea for a surtax on millionaires, as “class warfare.” They argue that raising taxes on millionaires would penalize many small businesses, the primary engine of U.S. job growth. They also oppose raising taxes on investment income, arguing that doing so would discourage savings and risk-taking.

The CRS report offers a withering rebuttal to both claims. Just 1 percent of tax returns with business income have adjusted gross income of more than $1 million a year, the report says, and those businesses are some of the least likely to create jobs.

“Many observers claim that small businesses are the primary creators of jobs,” Hungerford wrote, but “most of the research cited by these observers is from the 1980s. More recent research suggests that small businesses contribute only slightly more jobs than larger business.”

The main difference “appears to be due to hiring by new startup firms,” which “generally do not generate much business income in their first years in operation.” Consequently, higher taxes on millionaires are unlikely to affect them, the report says.[emphasis added]

    Oh, so, you mean, the argument on behalf of small businesses is…phony. I’m shocked, shocked, shocked…

    No, once again, we know the real motivation is really greed.