Repeal this!

President Obama received rousing applause Tuesday night in his State of the Union address when he called for bipartisan agreement on repealing one part of the Affordable Care Act:

“We can start right now by correcting a flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses. “

All members of Congress stood up to applaud because, while the public in general might not have understood the specific issue, Congress and many small businesses understood.

The 1099 part of the ACA requires a business to report payments made for over $600 for goods and services to the IRS using a 1099. This idea started in the last Bush administration to uncover income not being reported by businesses to avoid taxes. The concept found its way into the ACA as a way to generate about $19 billon more dollars to help pay for the provisions in the Act.

The burden for a small business, if this 1099 provision should be allowed to go into effect in January of 2012, would be tremendous. Plus, there are serious doubts that the IRS could handle the amount of information that would flood the agency for it to actually be used to identify businesses owing taxes.

Democrats, Republicans, independents, the President….everybody wants to repeal this 1099 provision. Democrats tried to put the repeal in the extension of the Income Tax Cuts legislation during the recent lame duck session but were rebuffed by GOP negotiators.

The biggest problem (other than partisan politics) in repealing the measure is money. Where does Congress come up with the $19 billion it is projected the government would lose in taxes so as not to increase the deficit?

This week Senators Reid, Baucus and Landrieu introduced a legislation to repeal the 1099 reporting requirement. So where is similar legislation from the majority party in the House?

Small Business Chamber December Newsletter

Tell Congress to stop new 1099 requirement

The new health care law, the Affordable Care Act, has tremendous benefits for small businesses, particularly the tax credits and health insurance exchanges. But the 1099 provision, which has nothing to do with healthcare reform and was included only as a revenue-raising measure, works against them. It would require small businesses to file a 1099 form for the purchase of any goods and service over $600—forcing them to spend an inordinate amount of time filling out paperwork instead of doing business.

Contact Senators Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint with this message:

Congress needs to correct the 1099 provision in the Affordable Care Act now. This past Saturday you voted against a bill that included the elimination of the 1099 problem as well as other small business friendly measures. It’s time to put politics aside and get the job done now for small businesses. Please vote to rescind the 1099 provision of the ACA only.

You can also sign a petition sponsored by the Small Business Majority by clicking here.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

House votes down deficit spending
Senate fails to do the same

Last week the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to keep the Bush-era tax cuts for 98% of Americans. Any income over $200,000 for an individual $250,000 for joint returns would not keep the tax cut set to expire December 31st. In this way, all tax payers continue to keep the reduced tax rate on their income up to those levels and Congress would cut deficit spending by $700 billion over ten years..

Saturday, the U.S. Senate could not reach the 60 votes needed to pass similar legislation. A compromise to raise the income threshold to $1 million was also not successful.

The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce supports the House passed legislation. For more details on this position click here.

Contact Senators Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint with this message:

I oppose increasing deficit spending by $700 billion in order to extend tax cuts to the top two tax brackets. Very few hands-on small business owners fall into these tax brackets yet we all will share in the increased debt that won’t be used to generate new jobs.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Say “no” to low-cost, low-value health insurance policies

The South Carolina Department of Insurance has requested a waiver from the U.S. Department of Health & and Human Services (HHS) on requiring health insurance companies to use 80% of premium for medical expenses or give refunds to policy holders. This request is only for individual policies.

The new Affordable Care Act set this 80% Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) for individual and small group coverage to give consumers more value for their premium dollars. The current MRL in South Carolina is only 55% meaning that 45 cents of every premium dollar goes to something other than medical care (such as profits, marketing, commissions, administration, etc.)

The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce has sent a letter to HHS opposing this waiver. We encourage you to do the same.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Insurance industry proposes change that will hurt small business

Last week Frank Knapp, Jr., the president of The South Carolina Small Business Chamber, testified against a proposed change in the Workers’ Compensation regulations that would allow an insurance company to cancel a workers’ compensation policy after only 10 days notice of non-payment of premium. The current policy is 30 days notice. To read about the arguments made at the public hearing, click here.

In response to our Action Alert on this issue, a sizeable number of letters from small businesses were sent to the Workers’ Compensation Commission opposing the change. This grass roots lobbying was very effective. A decision by the South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission on this request might come as early as December 13th.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SEC receives petition to allow for small investments in local businesses

The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce is supporting a Securities and Exchange Petition for Rulemaking filed by Sustainable Economies Law Center. The petition is to exempt securities offerings up to $100,000 with $100 maximum per investor from registration. Granting this exemption will be a great benefit to small businesses that have been shut out of the traditional lending process and give more funding opportunities for entrepreneurs and local businesses.

To read the petition, click here. To voice your support for the petition to the SEC send an email to rule-comments@sec.gov with “File 4-605” in the subject line.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bring Your Business Cards...

The next BuySC Micro Conference is scheduled for Tuesday January 11, 2011 from 6-8pm. Small Business Authority and writer for the Lexington Chronicle Jerry Bellune and 3 co-authors will be discussing their new book "Killer Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs" at the Inn at USC (3rd Floor Gallery), 1619 Pendleton Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29201. The discussion will be followed by a book signing, networking with small business owners and delicious refreshments provided by our sponsors Edible Arrangements and Gervais and Vine.

Members may bring a guest for free, too!

RSVP Today!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------