IF YOU WANT BUSINESS TO EXPAND, STOP TAXING BUSINESS:

Suddenly, a raft of tax-break proposals from Obama (TOM RAUM, 9/07/10, Associated Press)

President Barack Obama's proposed tax breaks for business sound like ideas that have enjoyed broad Republican backing in the past. But in today's toxic political atmosphere, he's unlikely to get much — if any — GOP help. [...]

The administration has not spelled out exactly how it would pay for all the new proposals, but suggested it would offset tax cuts by closing various corporate loopholes and levying targeted tax hikes on big business, particularly on the oil and gas industry and on multinational corporations. Some of these tax proposals were included in the budget Obama submitted to Congress earlier this year but were never acted on by Congress.

Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the senior Republican on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, called Obama's business tax measures serious proposals worthy of consideration. But he said that "raising taxes to cut taxes is at best a zero sum game."