President Barack Obama's plan to hike taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals to help the middle class and boost the economy won't work, Cypress Semiconductor CEO T.J. Rodgers told CNBC Thursday.
"It is going to take money from productive use, either from investment of wealthy individuals or from companies, and put it to unproductive use. More cash for clunkers, more things that don't create an economy," Rodgers said in an interview with "Closing Bell."
"A job in a stable company is what we need, not more taxes going to Washington."
On Monday, the president unveiled a proposed for the fiscal year 2016. It calls for a one-time, 14 percent tax on an estimated $2.1 trillion in profits piled up abroad by companies such as General Electric and Microsoft, while imposing a 19 percent tax on U.S. companies' future foreign earnings.
Among other things, the budget also proposes a new infrastructure bank to fund repairs of roads and bridges across the country. Obama put an initial four-year price tag of $1.3 billion on the infrastructure bonds.
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However, Rogers believes that investment won't do anything to spur growth. That's because government jobs are too costly to create, he said.
It costs the government about $1 million to create a job, he said, citing figures from the Congressional Budget Office. On the other hand, it costs businesses much less, he said. For example, small businesses invest about $30,000 per job.
"Every time you take money out of the economy, you're destroying jobs. You put it in the government, you're creating jobs but you're creating many fewer jobs in the government than you would have created if you left the money in the economy."
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As for who should win the White House in 2016, Rodgers didn't name names but said it should be someone who understands that the era of big government is over.
"We have to find either a Democrat or a Republican who understands economic principals," he said.
"Let the economy mend itself. The Fed can't do anything. They've turned all the knobs their going to turn, and they've averted disaster. But they can't turn investment back on. Investment has to turn back on because people want to do it, and that's not going to happen by taking more money away from them.
—Reuters contributed to this report.
