On the right is a new countdown clock from the House Ways & Means Committee showing how many days remain before President Obama’s plan for a massive tax hike takes effect.

In a new op-ed for The Hill, Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) explains why we need to stop the tax hike – which threatens families and private-sector job creation – and do so soon. “Taking action now to prevent tax hikes sends a clear, strong message to the markets, to employers and to families that Washington is serious about reforming our tax code and putting us on a path to strong economic growth,” he writes.

We need to act now, Camp says, because “the U.S. unemployment rate has been at 8 percent or higher” for 40 months “and nearly 13 million Americans are currently looking for work.” Laws like ObamaCare have only made it harder for small businesses to hire. And the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says the president’s plan for tax hikes “would devastate an already fragile economy.”

In other words: “we can’t wait” to stop the tax hike.

Fixing the tax code is a key part of the Republican Plan for America’s Job Creators. That’s why Speaker John Boehner said the House will vote next month to stop the tax hike and lay the groundwork for the GOP’s tax reform plan to “boost economic growth and create jobs” by putting in place “a fairer, simpler tax code that lowers rates and closes special interest loopholes.”

But it’s not just Republicans sounding the alarm – rather, Camp says, “[s]upport for preventing tax hikes is strong and bipartisan, garnering the support of prominent Democrats such as former President Clinton, former Obama economic adviser Lawrence Summers and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). Recently even more Senate Democrats —Sens. Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Jim Webb (Va.) and Bill Nelson (Fla.) — refused to endorse a year-end tax increase.”

“House Republicans are ready,” says Chairman Camp, “and we urge Senate Democrats and the White House to provide families and job creators the certainty they need by joining us to stop the tax hike.”