Congress and the administration are desperate to tap sources of tax revenue wherever and whenever they can find them to help pay for costly government programs. Unfairly, and more often than not, the business community is caught in the crosshairs.

A case in point is The American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act—sometimes referred to as the “jobs bill”—now before Congress. This legislation would extend unemployment benefits and renew important expired business tax provisions, including the R&E tax credit. To pay for itself, however, the bill calls for a laundry list of permanent tax increases on businesses in exchange for temporary tax extenders, including tax increases on small businesses—America’s job creators.

One of the legislation’s most alarming provisions is a payroll tax on certain individuals and small businesses that form S-corporations. Under current law, owners of S-corporation service-sector companies—such as architectural and accounting firms—don’t pay taxes at the company level; rather, the owners pay personal income taxes on the business profits as a shareholder in the company. Increasing taxes on fully compliant small business owners and making the tax code even more complex would not inspire confidence in our nation’s primary job creators.

The bill would also punish U.S. firms that do business overseas by limiting the foreign tax credits that they can claim for income taxes paid to other countries. This proposal amounts to a tax hike that would hinder the ability of American worldwide companies to compete globally, create jobs, and stimulate economic growth.

In addition, the legislation would raise taxes on the successful investments of private equity, hedge, and venture funds. The result would be scaled-back investments in small businesses and diminished innovation in real estate, energy, and other critical sectors of the economy.

In short, the jobs bill targets businesses as an unending funding source for the administration and Congress. The legislation’s one step forward, two steps back approach would be counterproductive to job creation, heightened U.S. competitiveness, and economic growth.

Though the economy needs Congress to extend expiring tax relief, it can’t afford the permanent tax hikes called for in this bill. In these fragile economic times, with nearly 1 in 10 Americans jobless, it would be the height of economic folly to target business— or any group of Americans—for a major tax increase. Congress, instead, should scrap these proposed taxes and work on pro-growth economic initiatives that would let businesses of all sizes create jobs and grow the economy.