Long Island entrepreneur Butch Yamali is part of the 2 percent who may shoulder the burden of tax hikes in the proposed fiscal-cliff compromise — and he’s not happy about it.
“Now my income is going to be taken away. Why would I work harder?” said Yamali, the owner of the Coral House catering hall in Baldwin, two restaurants in Lido Beach, a fleet of ice trucks and a vending-machine business.
Yamali, 50, said he makes well over $500,000 a year.
If no fiscal-cliff deal is reached, his taxes could increase by about $30,000.
Even with the proposed compromise, he’s looking at at least $10,000 more.
“It will be like 40 percent,” he said of his total tax burden.
“We got hit hard by Sandy, and now this? I take my money and [put] it back into my business, but now I’m not so sure,” the father of three said.
Under the compromise being negotiated by President Obama and Congress, income over $450,000 would be taxed at 39.6 percent.
Yamali’s capital gains and dividend income — about 10 percent of his total — would be taxed at 20 percent rather than the current 15 percent.
“You are getting penalized for working hard, getting penalized for achieving,” he said. “I don’t want to lay anyone off, but I am going to look at things and things that are not as profitable I may have to stop.”
With two college-age daughters, he said, every penny counts.
“We have problems — with more zeroes — problems that don’t let you sleep at night,” he said.