Reason Enough to Oppose the Senate Health Care Bill

… and start a business issuing 1099’s.   A forbes.com article ‘Senate Six’ Could Sink Small Business yesterday listed a number of nails in the coffins of small businesses, including:

  • fees for not offering health insurance
  • 35% tax on health plans worth over $8000 (singles) per year.
  • cap flexible spending accounts at $2000 per year
  • eliminate income exclusions for employers who maintain drug plans for seniors

There is a lot more lunacy in the Senate bill according to the article.  But here is one absolutely insane item. 

–For small business, there’s a provision that will increase the already sky-high tax compliance costs. It requires businesses that pay more than $600 annually to corporate providers of property and services to file an information report with each provider (1099) and with the IRS. Ask your accountant how much that’s going to cost. No one has done an analysis of the cost to business (it’ll be a whopper) vs. the dollars raised by the Treasury (minimal).

Think about that.  If you are still standing up you have never run a business (and complied with paperwork regulations anyway).  And if you have never run a business (like most of the people voting on this abomination) you are unqualified to interfere with those of us who have.   Based on the (Forbes) language above, businesses would have to issue 1099 information returns for virtually every vendor they do business with.  The record keeping and paperwork implications are staggering.  And the revenue potential is minimal.

And it has nothing at all to do with health care.  It has to do with tightening government’s grip on taxpayers and increasing government power.  That seems to be the theme of the bill.  Why else would you cap health savings accounts?  Why else would you tax employer paid health insurance?  Aren’t those the things we are supposed to be encouraging?

The bill also creates $80 billion in “fees”  based on market share for drug and medical device providers.  Fees? for market share?  Adding cost to drugs and devices?   How does that reduce the cost of health care?  

Where is anything in any of the bills that actually reduces the cost of health care,   things like tax-parity for health insurance purchased by individuals, or interstate competition or expansion of health savings accounts or  deregulation of  health care providers.  The Republicans are at least addressing tort reform which is actually one of the most difficult issues.  There is a ton of easy stuff based on free market  (or free-er market) principles that would actually help small business.  But this government seems intent on destroying small business instead.

Manhattan Libertarian Party