Party leaders gathered in Cleveland for the 2016 Republican National Convention (RNC) this week and presented an agenda to promote small business growth—an important first step to achieve that goal is to repeal the Health Insurance Tax (HIT).
The HIT is a harmful tax imposed on health insurance premiums for working families, seniors and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.
Some of the hardest hit, however, are small businesses and the hardworking Americans they employ. There are nearly 930,000 small businesses in Ohio that employ 2.1 million workers. For them, the HIT could amount to thousands of dollars in increased taxes. Without this much-needed revenue, employers will be forced to forego hiring, delay or cancel expanding their business or cut employee benefits.
All of this could deal a serious blow to the Buckeye State. It’s estimated the damage done by the HIT could result in Ohio losing between 3,000-6,000 jobs by 2023, and trigger a decline in the state’s GPD of up to $1 billion over a decade.
We’ve heard directly from Ohioans about the pain caused by the HIT. At a HIT roundtable hosted by Congressman Jim Renacci in Brunswick, Ohio, June Kasidonis, Vice President of Kasidonis Heating and Cooling Inc., said, “The additional $500 per employee, per year cost on our 22-staff company is detrimental to our budget. The additional cost will take away from our ability to hire and give raises or bonuses.”
We commend Congress for voting last December to delay the impact of the HIT by one year. Many of those same leaders are in Cleveland this week for the convention discussing their policy agenda for the coming years. We urge them to make HIT relief a priority in Congress to help foster economic growth and prosperity in Ohio and all 50 states.