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Ellmers: Need A Job? Support Small Businesses
Story Date: 6/1/2012
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Source: U.S. Representative Renee Ellmers (N.C.-2), THE DUNN DAILY RECORD, 5/29/12
Can you compel success? Small businesses want to grow, hire and create more promising opportunities, but few agree that manipulation is the proper tool to achieve it. This, however, has been the priority of the White House as it seeks to disguise the policies that have wreaked havoc on our struggling economy.
Last week we celebrated the 49th annual National Small Business Week — a time to recognize the contributions of small businesses to the economic vitality of our nation and their place in creating jobs for millions of Americans. As a small business owner and chairwoman of the Small Business Subcommittee on Healthcare and Technology, it is discouraging to see so many small firms continue to be punished by the crippling burdens of President Obama’s health care mandate. This law goes beyond an enforcement of reckless policies — it has the potential to destroy millions of American jobs and prevent our economy from growing.
The most recent evidence comes from a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that was released last week. Under the provisions set forth in Obamacare, a special health care tax credit was created to help small businesses afford the cost of covering their employees. Companies eligible for the tax credit must have fewer than 25 workers, pay average salaries of $50,000 or less, and cover at least half of employee health insurance premiums.
During the health care reform debate, President Obama claimed the health care tax credit would serve as a buffer to help small businesses deal with the weight of this massive law, and the president’s own Council of Economic Advisors estimated over 4 million small businesses would be eligible for the credit. Yet despite an aggressive outreach and publicity campaign by the administration, only 170,300 small employers claimed the tax credit in 2010. As the GAO report reveals, many small firms haven’t claimed the tax credit because it is too complex and its temporary nature makes a significant solution to their long term compliance problems impossible to implement effectively.
The complicated, temporary health care tax credit has done little to help small businesses purchase health insurance and nothing to curb health care costs. If the Supreme Court throws out the entire law, Congress should consider health care reform with a market-based approach, using a more open process that addresses the most pressing issues facing families and small businesses: Rising costs.
A 2,000-page bill filled with budget gimmicks and greater government control is unpopular with the American people and unworkable for many small businesses. Yet this is the healthcare system we are forced to accept in the brave new world of Obamacare — one that promises equal entitlement of coverage in exchange for government control, bankruptcy and unaccountable bureaucrats deciding your future.
Our economy requires bold solutions and job-supporting policies in order to remain relevant and successful. We owe it to our small businesses to work just as hard for them as they do for their employees — but this requires bold solutions and a determination to protect the free market from an encroachment of federal power.
It is time for real solutions. Regardless of the ruling that the Supreme Court gives on Obamacare, I will continue to fight to repeal and replace this misguided law.
The writer, a Dunn Republican, represents North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District.
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