News Item

New Hampshire Business Leaders Urge Congress to Immediately Delay Health Insurance Tax

Goffstown, NH (December 5, 2018)– New Hampshire small business leaders met today at St. Anslem’s College in Goffstown to discuss the impact of the 2020 health insurance tax, or HIT, on small businesses, their employees, seniors on Medicare and middle-income families. Small businesses leaders expressed concerns about the impact of the HIT on New Hampshire small businesses, their employees and the self-employed if the tax is not delayed by the end of this year.

“My sales and marketing firm has always provided full health insurance coverage for all of our employees and I’ve never asked them to contribute a cent. However, because of the HIT tax, I won’t be able to do this for much longer,” said Al Letizio Jr., co-founder of A.J. Letizio Sales & Marketing. “With thousands of New Hampshire small businesses facing similar choices, the HIT tax does real economic damage to small business owners, their employees and families. It limits the ability of small business owners like me to hire more employees, and it undermines our efforts to take good care of our employees by increasing their salaries and benefits. For my small business, the HIT tax directly takes hundreds, if not thousands of dollars out of my company’s budget that would otherwise be allocated to wage increases for my employees. Instead, that hard earned money will be sent to Washington DC. Congress must come together in a bi-partisan fashion before the end of the year to suspend this tax for 2020.”

The HIT is a federal sales tax on health insurance plans purchased by small business owners, the self-employed, and workers who receive their health care coverage through an employer. Without action by Congress this year to delay the tax for 2020, New Hampshire small business owners and seniors on Medicare will be hit with higher health insurance premiums as they renew their coverage next year.

“Taxing health insurance is only making life harder for small business owners across the state. With health care costs constantly going up, it’s difficult to afford a quality health plan with coverage that protects my employees from high out-of-pocket costs,” said Sy Mahfuz, owner, Persian Rug Galleries. “I hope Congress can work together to find a way to suspend the health insurance tax before the end of the year and protect small businesses and those we employ who will end up suffering if this tax is not suspended for 2020.”

New Hampshire is home to more than 130,930 small businesses, which employ more than 286,700 workers. A study by Oliver Wyman shows that New Hampshire families in the small employer market could be faced with $448 on average in higher premiums in 2020 as a result of the HIT. The tax is estimated to disproportionately impact 142 million Americans, particularly those earning an income between $10,000 and $50,000.

###

The Stop The HIT Coalition represents the nation’s small business owners, their employees and the self-employed who are actively working to repeal the Health Insurance Tax. Since the Coalition’s formation in 2011, it has grown to include more than 35 national organizations, representing millions of small business owners across the country. For more information, please visit www.StopTheHIT.com.