Lawmakers Push for Fairness in Tax Code, Health Care Contact: Washington, D.C. — The National Small Business Association applauds Reps. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), Wally Herger (R-Calif.), Suzanne Kosmas (D-Fla.) and Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) for today introducing legislation that stands to greatly improve entrepreneurs’ ability to afford health insurance. The Equity for Our Nation’s Self-Employed Act of 2009 (H.R. 1470) is a top priority for NSBA and will correct a significant error in the tax code that penalizes self-employed individuals. Currently, corporations can deduct the cost of premiums as a business expense and forego all payroll taxes on these expenses. The self-employed (schedule-C or schedule-E tax filers) are unfairly prohibited from taking that deduction, resulting in an additional 15.3 percent tax on their health insurance premiums. This inequity serves a significant competitive disadvantage for small business in being the only sector of the U.S. economy hit with such a substantial tax penalty on the cost of their employer-provided health coverage. “NSBA’s members nationwide voted this bill among their top 10 priorities for the 111th Congress,” NSBA President Todd McCracken said. “This targeted, very doable piece of legislation takes a significant step toward ensuring that the cost of health care doesn’t become a barrier to entrepreneurship.” NSBA will be launching a new initiative, HealthReformToday.org dedicated to broad reform of the U.S. health care system. The tax on self-employed individual’s health insurance is a prime example of the need for reform, and NSBA looks forward to working with lawmakers to seek-out both broad reform as well as critical fixes such as the Equity for Our Nation’s Self-Employed Act of 2009 would provide. For more information, please visit: setaxequity.org/ |