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President Barack Obama won re-election Tuesday in a hard-fought contest that highlighted the stark political divide running through the country.
Solution providers fear that Obama's victory is going to lead to more pressure on businesses, with job cuts likely in the wake of increased tax rates.
"Businesses are going to cut jobs," said Bruce Geier, CEO of Technology Integration Group (TIG), a $341 million national solution provider ranked at No. 69 on CRN's 2012 Solution Provider 500."There is not even a question about it. Obama is hell-bent on raising taxes."
Obama defeated Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney by winning the Electoral College vote with victories in key battleground states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. As of press time, Obama and Romney were tied in the popular vote at 49 percent each, according to several news outlets.
Solution providers that supported President Obama credited his landmark health care legislation as one of the keys to his re-election.
"One of the biggest changes [with Obama] I was excited about was health-care reform," said Obama supporter Christopher Hertz, CEO of New Signature, a fast-growing, cloud computing solution provider based in Washington, D.C. "That was a huge cost driver in our business until the passage of health-care reform. We had the statutory maximum increase in health-care costs every year until this year. The fact that Obama and Congress passed health-care reform, regardless of whether it is perfect or not, is a huge benefit to businesses."
Hertz seems to be in the minority of solution providers as an Obama fan: Most solution providers were hoping for a Romney win, according a recent survey by CRN.
[Related: Presidential Election: Tech Company Employees Vote With Contributions]
Sixty percent of 1,004 solution providers surveyed by CRN ahead of the election said they planned to cast their vote for Romney, compared to 40 percent for President Obama.
Sixty-five percent of respondents said that four more years of Obama's leadership will lead to higher tax rates for businesses leading to job cuts.
"You think CEOs are going to take less money?" asked Geier. "They are not. You think they are going to risk their bonuses? It just ain't going to happen. They are going to cut jobs. No one is going to say, 'OK, I'm going to pay my fair share and take less money.' "
NEXT: Channel Fears Rising Health-Care Costs Under Obama Presidency
