Irvine, CA (May 26, 2015) – U.S. Representative Mimi Walters (CA-45) joined local small business owners today in Irvine to discuss how the health insurance tax, or HIT, is impacting local businesses and employees. The event was co-hosted by the Stop the HIT Coalition, a broad based group representing the nation’s small business owners, their employees and the self-employed.
“The HIT has to be repealed, so that we can make health insurance affordable,” said Representative Walters. “We can’t force businesses to go out of business because they can’t afford to provide health care.”
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.
“Our region is thriving in the areas of job creation and economic development, and hidden costs such as the health insurance tax present monumental challenges to those goals,” said Michele Williams Harrington, owner of Star Real Estate South County, who also serves on the board of the Aliso Viejo Chamber of Commerce. “More small business owners need to be aware of the HIT, which is why I’m thankful that our Member of Congress, Representative Mimi Walters, is willing to lead the charge for the Orange County small business community on this pressing issue.”
California is home to more than 3.5 million small businesses, which employ more than 6.3 million workers. 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.
Representative Walters 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.