Letter to the Editor that ran in Louisiana’s The Advocate on February 2, 2017.
Letters: Obamacare mess hurting small businesses
Small business owners in Louisiana face many difficult challenges. I’ve operated my Dots Diner restaurants for over two decades and thought that I had seen it all. But when it comes to health care, it’s hard to name anything worse than the Obamacare health insurance tax (HIT).
HIT has been a disaster. It has caused small business owners across Louisiana to make immediate and drastic changes to their companies’ health insurance in order to deal with increased costs from the HIT. When the government adds such large tax burdens and additional compliance costs on business owners, it makes it nearly impossible to invest, hire and grow. It also makes it tougher for us to do what we’d like for our employees, including raises and increasing benefits.
Our congressman, Steve Scalise, recently spent nearly an hour speaking with small business owners about this issue. I walked away feeling reassured by his commitment to repealing the HIT. But I also came to understand how much work is left to deal with this Obamacare mess. U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy could have a huge impact on the Pelican State by becoming a vocal advocate for HIT tax relief, and I strongly encourage him to do so.
Ending the HIT tax on small business healthcare would be one of the most important actions Congress could take to reinvigorate small businesses and spark job creation. I hope we will have forceful backing from all of Louisiana’s elected officials in Washington, D.C., in order to get this critical job done.
Larry Katz
Small Business Owner