Plan elimination is the first major consequence of PPACA that small-business owners likely feel.
-National Federation of Independent Businesses, 07/2011
Actually, studies by the Congressional Budget Office, the Rand Corporation, and the Urban Institute have shown how employers will continue to have strong incentives to cover their workers. They will continue to compete for the best employees by offering benefits that employees want. Employers and employees will also still have strong tax advantages for employment-based coverage.
Read more in our new memo debunking the 12 biggest myths about the Affordable Care Act.
The health care law has caused health insurance premiums to increase for families struggling to make ends meet.
-Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-NY), 06/28/2012
Actually, the new health care law lowers administrative costs for employers and employees and increases choice and competition in health insurance. A family of four will save as much as $2,300 on their premiums in 2014 compared to what they would have paid without reform, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Premiums for the same plan will be up to 2 percent lower for small businesses and 3 percent lower for large businesses.
Read more in our new memo debunking the 12 biggest myths about the Affordable Care Act.
Yesterday, we sent out an Idea Brief on a new Start-up R&D Tax Credit and we received several inquiries regarding the possibility of drafting legislation on this. Fortunately, a bipartisan group of Senators led by Senator Chris Coons is working on enacting this very important legislation. Here is a recent Op-Ed Senator Coons wrote about the subject:
Innovation has long been the spark that powers entrepreneurship and job creation in this country, and behind nearly every innovation are two of my favorite words: research and development. After all, it’s through R&D that ideas become innovations, that innovations become products and that products transform industries.
Read the rest here.
While our country continues to evolve in its views towards gay and lesbian couples, our tax code lags. For example, businesses now routinely offer family health care benefits to domestic partners and same-sex couples who are allowed to marry under state laws, but federal tax law punishes both the businesses that offer these benefits and the employees who use them. It treats the value of these benefits as income, forcing the employer and the employee to pay extra taxes that would not apply to other couples. Not only does this cost more for everyone, it is convoluted to administer, since businesses must keep a separate set of books for employees with a same-sex partner in order to calculate these added taxes—including payroll taxes. Simply changing the tax code to put health coverage for domestic partners on the same footing as coverage of other family members would remove this headache for employers and ensure that all employees are treated equally and can receive the protections they deserve.
Read more about Third Way’s proposal to eliminate the tax penalty on health insurance for domestic partners.
