Apex, NC (August 20, 2015) – Congresswoman Renee Ellmers (R-NC-02) joined local small business owners today in Apex to discuss how the health insurance tax, or HIT, is impacting local businesses and employees. The event was co-hosted by the Apex Chamber of Commerce and the Stop the HIT Coalition, a broad based group representing the nation’s small business owners, their employees and the self-employed.
“Here in North Carolina, there are 800,000 small businesses employing 1.6 million individuals,” said Congresswoman Ellmers. “There are ways that we can help our small businesses be able to provide health insurance benefits and still help them to grow.”
The HIT is an often-overlooked tax in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that significantly drives up health insurance costs for millions of small businesses. The tax amounts to $159 billion in new costs over the next decade, which is almost entirely passed on to small businesses and the self-employed who purchase coverage in the fully insured marketplace. The tax raises the cost of health insurance premiums for families by approximately $500 a year, according to an analysis by former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin.
“The unintended consequences of these healthcare taxes on small businesses are just that,” said Larry Lytle, a small business owner in attendance. “They force businesses to make tough decisions or go out of business.”
According to research by the National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation, the HIT will jeopardize between 152,000 to 286,000 private-sector jobs across the U.S. by 2023, and reduce real GDP by as much as $20 billion to $33 billion over the same period.
Congresswoman Ellmers is a cosponsor of H.R. 928, a bipartisan bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would repeal the HIT and permanently relieve small businesses of this burdensome tax.
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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.