Republicans pride themselves of being the champions of small business owners. But it’s helpful to clarify what actually is their definition of a small business.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) released a report that shows only 2.5 percent of small business owners would be affected by allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire on the wealthiest taxpayers (top two marginal tax rates).

Last night’s “Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” had a good breakdown of why Republicans in Congress are likely to fight President Obama’s proposal to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire on income higher than $250,000.

In urging Congress to take action on what lawmakers can agree on—allowing Bush tax cuts to remain in place for everyone except those in the top tax bracket—Obama is pushing for a one-year extension of Bush tax cuts for incomes under $250,000. If Mitt Romney is elected, it's likely the American public would see him and Republicans in Congress cut taxes for their wealthy buddies by reinstating Bush's tax breaks for them.

President Obama called for a one-year extension of Bush-era tax cuts for Americans making less than $250,000 a year while ending the tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent of Americans. This is a sharp contrast to Republicans in Congress who are calling for an extension of the tax cuts for all tax brackets—even for millionaires and billionaires.

Two quick hits here on how the rich aren’t like you and me.

From 2008 to 2010, a sample of major corporations showed they earned $173 billion in combined profits—yet not only did they not pay taxes, but they actually got money back from the federal government in the form of tax benefits. In the study, Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) looked at a dozen major corporations and analyzed their profits and their effective federal corporate income tax rates between 2008 and 2010.

In this cross-post from Our Fiscal Security, Tamara Draut, vice president of Policy & Programs at Demos, gives us a quick list of the top 10 tax stats.