WILMINGTON, N.C., March 22, 2013 – Small businesses owners and advocates met today to discuss efforts to repeal the costly Health Insurance Tax (HIT) that was included in the president’s health care plan, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
During the event, small business owners from the Wilmington area discussed how this new tax would only exacerbate the challenges facing small business by further raising the cost of health care for thousands of businesses and their employees in the state. Given the recent introduction of legislation by Reps. Charles Boustany (R-La.) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah) in the House of Representatives and Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in the Senate to repeal the HIT, attendees called for North Carolina’s representatives to join the fight in eliminating this harmful tax.
“Health care costs have reliably risen for years, making it difficult for my business to expand,” said Tom Crittenden, owner of Tidewater Heating and Air Conditioning. “The health insurance tax is just another increase in costs and another challenge when I want to hire additional employees. I hope Congress repeals this new tax so that small businesses like mine can continue to grow and create jobs.”
The HIT is a discriminatory tax born from the president’s health care plan, which would impose over $100 billion in new taxes on the small business community, their employees and the self-employed. The HIT could impact more than 800,000 North Carolina small businesses and 3.5 million workers and families.
Under the law, the tax will be imposed almost entirely on what’s known as the “fully insured market,” where 88 percent of small business owners purchase their insurance. The tax would raise the cost of health insurance premiums for families by approximately $5,000 over the next decade according to an analysis by former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin.
According to a study recently released by the National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation, the HIT would reduce private sector employment by between 146,000 and 262,000 in 2022. Roughly 59 percent of these job losses will fall on small businesses. The survey also showed that the added tax would reduce U.S. real output (sales) in 2022 by between $19 billion to $35 billion.
“In many of the small communities of North Carolina, small businesses are essential to their economies,” said Gregg Thompson, North Carolina State Director for the National Federation of Independent Businesses. “These businesses cannot withstand another increase in taxes. For this reason, we support efforts in the House and Senate to repeal the health insurance tax, which can only harm North Carolina businesses, their employees and their families.”
Today’s event was hosted by Wilmington small businesses and members of the Stop The HIT Coalition, an organization representing small business owners, their employees and the self-employed who support a repeal of the HIT and seek to educate policymakers about the impact of the pending 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.