Second Bush-Kerry debate: on Corporations

George W. Bush: FactCheck: Bush indeed is half-owner of timber company

KERRY: The president got $84 from a timber company that [he half] owns, and he's counted as a small business.

BUSH: I own a timber company? That's news to me. Need some wood?

FACT CHECK: In fact, according to his 2003 financial disclosure form, Bush does own part interest in "LSTF, LLC", a limited-liability company organized "for the purpose of the production of trees for commercial sales." So Bush was wrong to suggest that he doesn't have ownership of a timber company. And Kerry was correct in saying that Bush's definition of "small business" is so broad that Bush himself would have qualified as a "small business" in 2001 by virtue of the $84 in business income. We should clarify: the $84 in Schedule C income was from Bush's Lone Star Trust, which is described on the 2001 income-tax returns as an oil and gas production business. The Lone Star Trust now owns 50% of the tree-growing company, but didn't get into that business until two years after the $84 in question.

Source: Analysis of second Bush-Kerry debate(FactCheck.org Ad-Watch)

George W. Bush: FactCheck: Kerry plan affects 471,000 companies, not 900,000

FACT CHECK: Bush once again claimed 900,000 "small businesses" would see a tax increase under Kerry's proposal to raise taxes only on persons making over $200,000 a year. As we showed earlier , that's an inflated number. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center calculates that 471,000 small employers would see an increase in taxes. Source: Analysis of second Bush-Kerry debate(FactCheck.org Ad-Watch)

George W. Bush: Kerry will tax small businesses

BUSH: Kerry says he's only going to tax the rich. Do you realize, 900,000 small businesses will be taxed under his plan because most small businesses are Subchapter S corps or limited partnerships, and they pay tax at the individual income tax level. And so when you're running up the taxes like that, you're taxing job creators, and that's not how you keep jobs here.

KERRY: That's just not true. The Wall Street Journal said 96% of small businesses are not affected at all by my plan. And you know why he gets that count? The president got $84 from a timber company that[he partly] owns, and he's counted as a small business. Dick Cheney's counted as a small business. That's how they do things. That's just not right.

BUSH: I own a timber company? That's news to me. Need some wood? Most small businesses are Subchapter S corps. 70% of the new jobs in America are created by small businesses. Taxes are going up when you run up the top two brackets. It's a fact.

Source: Second Bush-Kerry debate, St. Louis, MO

John Kerry: 96% of small businesses not affected by my tax plan

Source: [X-ref Bush] Second Bush-Kerry debate, St. Louis, MO

The above quotations are from Second Bush-Kerry debate, Town Hall format, Oct. 8, 2004 in St. Louis, Missouri. Click here for definitions & background information on Corporations. Click here for more quotes by John Kerry on Corporations. Click here for more quotes by George W. Bush on Corporations.
*Other candidates on Corporations:*
George W. Bush Dick Cheney John Edwards John Kerry *Third Party Candidates:* Michael Baradnik Peter Camejo David Cobb Ralph Nader Michael Peroutka	*Democratic Primaries:* Carol Moseley Braun Wesley Clark Howard Dean Dick Gephardt Bob Graham Dennis Kucinich Joe Lieberman Al Sharpton
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