President Obama and the Democrats in Congress wrongly believe that increasing government control and ownership over many parts of our economy – including the auto industry, the financial sector and now health care – will rescue us from this recession. Nothing could be further from the truth.

One needs to look no further than right here in Southwest Florida to see the devastating effect that Big Government policies can have on small businesses and the local economy.

Marine Concepts, a boat manufacturing company located in Cape Coral, has grown over the past two decades to become a leader in the manufacturing industry.

When Bob Long purchased the company in 1994, he had 14 employees and struggled to make ends meet. Instead of keeping his profits, Bob reinvested his earnings back into his company and was eventually able to employ over 130 workers.

Over the past several years, however, Marine Concepts has struggled with many of the same challenges that other small businesses throughout Southwest Florida and the nation have faced: a lack of available capital, high taxes, and increasingly burdensome federal, state, and local regulations and mandates.

Last year, despite losing money, Marine Concepts still paid over $560,000 in taxes, including Medicare and Social Security taxes, state and federal unemployment taxes, personal property tax, real estate tax, and sales tax. While the government continues to hire new bureaucrats, Marine Concepts has had to reduce its employees by 50 percent, shut down two plants, and cut back on employee benefits. Marine Concepts is reluctant to invest without knowing what future government mandates will be imposed on small businesses like theirs.

But sadly, under the new health care plan that President Obama signed into law last month, Marine Concepts will face even higher taxes and stiffer mandates. President Obama’s plan creates a new tax on jobs by forcing employers who do not provide “acceptable” coverage to pay a “fair share” tax of $2,000 per full-time employee – with the government dictating what is acceptable.

With unemployment in Southwest Florida averaging more than 13 percent, we shouldn’t be adding more taxes and more regulation on small businesses like Marine Concepts, which create jobs and will help to jumpstart our economy.

The new health care law is yet another example of the Big Government policies that President Obama and the Democratic Leadership in Congress continue to impose on an unwilling public.

Under ObamaCare, Americans will face higher taxes, rationed care, and, most alarmingly, a loss of individual freedoms – the freedom to choose the health care that’s right for you and your family.

Never before has Washington imposed such onerous and, in my opinion, unconstitutional mandates on the American people, such as requiring individuals to purchase government-approved health insurance. And never before has Washington enacted legislation that will fundamentally alter the relationship between patients and their doctors.

There’s no question that our health care system needs serious reform, but this law is not the way to do it. That’s why I’ve introduced legislation that will repeal the health care law (H.R. 4919, the Revoke Excessive Policies that Encroach on American Liberties (REPEAL) Act).

By repealing this law, we can start over and enact real reforms based on free-market ideas that are supported by a majority of Americans, such as: substantial medical malpractice reform; association health plans; health savings accounts; tax incentives for those who purchase insurance; allowing individuals to purchase insurance across state lines; and improving transparency in health care costs. These reforms will allow Americans to become informed consumers of their health care, just like we are in every other aspect of our lives.

We can’t afford to mortgage our children’s and grandchildren’s futures and surrender our personal freedoms under this flawed law. Repeal it, and start over. 

— U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV represents Florida’s 14th District, which includes all of Lee County and parts of Charlotte and Collier counties.