Rep. Readers Worry About Tax Impact of Obama Presidency
Registered Rep. readers, most of whom are Republicans or Independents, are not too enthusiastic about the country’s new president Barack Obama—even though securities and investment firms ponied up $12.65 million in funds for Obama’s campaign, making it the third largest industry donor, according to opensecrets.org. (McCain got only $7.96 million in contributions from securities and investment firms.)
In a survey conducted by Penton Media for the magazine, 63 percent of respondents said they were “not at all” pleased with the result of the presidential election. After all, only 16 percent of respondents are affiliated with the Democratic party, versus 51 percent who are Republicans and 23 percent who are Independents. (Of course, there were some Obama supporters in the group: 12 percent said they were "somewhat" pleased with his election, while 20 percent said they were "very" pleased with the results.) In any case, registered reps were expecting Obama to win: 65 percent said they were not surprised at all that he was elected.
Exactly half of Rep. reader respondents said Obama's election would not be beneficial for our country "at all." But Rep. readers are more worried about the negative impact Obama’s presidency might have on business in general, than the impact he will have on their own businesses. Close to 58 percent said he would be “not at all” beneficial for business in general, versus 44 percent who said he would be “not at all” beneficial to their own businesses. Another 31 percent said he would have a neutral impact on their businesses.
As for their own businesses, reps said they are most worried about the impact that changes in tax rates/structure (56 percent extremely concerned), national security (56 percent extremely concerned) and the stability of the nation’s financial institutions (55 percent extremely concerned) will have. About 43 percent of rep respondents worry that changes in tax rates and structure will be very negatively impacted over the next four years; 37 percent say national security will be very negatively impacted.
The availability of credit was the next biggest worry for respondents, with 50 percent extremely concerned and 30 percent somewhat concerned. Another 43 percent were extremely concerned about economic policies/stimulus programs, while 33 percent were somewhat concerned about this issue. Other concerns include foreign trade policy and the war in Iraq.
Over a third of respondents (37 percent) are either owners, presidents, CEOs or chairman while another 19 percent are vice presidents, Sr. VPs or Executive VPs. Another third, or 31 percent, fall into the “other” category. Close to 60 percent are between the ages of 40 and 59, and most respondents work for organizations with either two to 10 full-time employees, or over 10,000 employees. A total of 182 Rep. readers responded to the survey.
