With a “fiscal cliff” of automatic tax increases and spending cuts set for 2013, businesses are reevaluating their future investment and hiring plans. Bloomberg reports:

Kimmie Candy Co. this month put on hold plans to add five or six workers to its 23-person payroll because of slowing sales growth and the political uncertainty in Washington, said Joseph Dutra, president of the Reno, Nevada-based company.

“For a small business like mine, cash flow is the biggest concern,” said Dutra, whose company makes Choco Rocks and Sunburst candies. “If you don’t know where the economy is going and where the government is going on taxes, you don’t want to take too many risks.”

Clients of Principal Global Investors have told CEO Jim McCaughan, that they aren’t as concerned with Europe’s economic troubles. Instead, “It’s more that Washington isn’t doing anything about the tax rises that are scheduled to come.”

Bruce Josten, the U.S. Chamber's Executive Vice President for Government Affairs, spoke to Fox Business about his letter to Congress on the impending fiscal cliff. He said Washington must act else there will be a "$600+ billion fiscal drag hit a very still-sputtering economy."

Josten wants to see a one-year minimum extension of the 2001/2003 tax rates along with tax extenders along with Congress working on comprehensive tax reform and spending reform--especially entitlements.