Pennsylvania has always played a critical role in American history, from our nation’s founding to the present day. Economically, our state has stood firm and steady during good times and bad, thanks in large part to the men and women here who operate their own businesses and contribute significantly to the state’s economy.
Small-business owners and the self-employed purchase health insurance through the fully insured marketplace, and that’s what the HIT goes after. Many small-business employees will pay $500 more per year in health insurance premiums, adding up to $5,000 in the first decade alone. Enough is enough. Pennsylvanians know how much small businesses matter to our neighborhoods, and only when they are able to hire new workers will our economy rebound.
There are more than 994,000 small businesses throughout our state, accounting for massive 98.3 percent of all of Pennsylvania’s employers. The HIT might not affect corporation-filled states so severely, but if Washington does not take action to repeal it, the result in Pennsylvania will be much less job creation, less capital investment and more uncertainty for small-business owners.
What percentage of employers will be small-businesses owners then? Hopefully, we won’t have to find out. Now, more than ever, we need our small businesses to keep our state afloat and put more people back to work; this will only happen if small-business owners have the certainty and confidence necessary to invest instead of worrying about new taxes looming.
Struggling as we are with a 7.6 percent unemployment rate, the last thing Pennsylvania needs is for small businesses to freeze hiring, lay off workers or even worse, board up their doors because of a new, unnecessary health care tax. Washington must take action before it’s too late.
Thankfully, some in Washington have decided to take on the HIT, recognizing the pain it will inflict on our state and our country as a whole. While legislation has been put forward in Congress to repeal the HIT, more support is necessary to do away with this tax before it goes into effect in 2014.
The longer Congress waits, the more uncertainty small businesses have about the future and the less likely new workers will be hired or operations will be expanded. Our elected leaders in the Keystone State should get behind this legislation and protect Pennsylvania’s small-business community. Our small businesses are depending on them to stop the HIT.