Baton Rouge, La., February 14, 2013 – The Stop the HIT Coalition, a broad-based group representing the nation’s small business owners, their employees and the self-employed, today commended U.S. Representative Charles Boustany (R-3rd District) for the introduction of bipartisan legislation, co-sponsored by Representative Jim Matheson (D-UT), that seeks to repeal the Health Insurance Tax (HIT) included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
“We are encouraged by the introduction of this vital bipartisan legislation to preserve the health and financial security of small businesses across the country,” said NFIB President and CEO Dan Danner. “We hope members of Congress will join together to fix this unintended consequence of the President’s healthcare law and prevent yet another hit to small businesses and the Americans and families they employ.”
There are over 391,535 small businesses in Louisiana which employ 1,655,200 workers. Many of these small business owners across Louisiana applauded the bill’s introduction as a common sense solution to protect the state’s small businesses and support much-needed economic growth.
“Rising healthcare costs continue to pose a serious strain on our ability to grow as a company,” said xxxx, CEO of XXX. “Our concerns have been building around the full implementation of Obamacare for quite some time, especially in how it will levy yet another unfair and burdensome tax on our employees and their families. Thanks to Representative Boustany’s leadership, I am confident we will stop the HIT and keep healthcare costs in check. Louisianans deserve no less.”
The HIT is a discriminatory tax born from the President’s health care plan, the PPACA, which will impose $101.7 billion in new taxes on the small business community, their employees and the self-employed. The HIT does not sunset and is expected to cost each family approximately $5,000 in higher premiums over the decade according to an analysis by former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin.
The HIT is especially misguided as it is cloaked as a fee, when it is surely a tax, that is placed on insurance providers and will undoubtedly be passed on to small businesses, their employees and the self-employed. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has confirmed this, stating that the HIT “would be largely passed through to consumers [small and family-owned businesses] in the form of higher premiums for private coverage.” Increasing the cost of health insurance plans for small business owners and the self-employed make offering affordable coverage, or any coverage at all, to employees more difficult.
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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.