FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 19, 2011

CONTACT: Clark Pettig
Office: (202) 225-5802

PETERS VOTES TO PROTECT SMALL BUSINESSES FROM TAX HIKE

Washington, DC – Rep. Gary Peters today voted to protect small businesses from a significant tax increase under the proposed Republican health care repeal bill. Peters voted against the repeal legislation.

The repeal legislation (H.R. 2), which Rep. Peters opposed, would fully eliminate the new small business health care tax credits that went into effect last year. More than 126,000 small businesses in Michigan qualify for the tax credits.

"The health care tax credits are making a real difference for small businesses here in Michigan and helping to ease the burden of rising health care costs," said Representative Peters. "With unemployment at nearly twelve percent in Michigan, the last thing small businesses need are more taxes and higher health care costs, but that's exactly what this bill would deliver."

The health care reform legislation passed last year included significant tax credits to help small businesses afford the cost of providing health care to their employees. Skyrocketing health care premiums in recent years have been a major burden on small businesses, making it harder for companies to grow and create jobs.

On the first day of the new Congress, Rep. Peters offered an amendment to the health care repeal that would have protected the small business tax credits. Republican leaders in the House refused to accept Peters' amendment, and the bill passed by the House today would repeal the small business tax credits.

The tax credit took effect last year, and already, independent reports show that the number of small businesses offering health care coverage to their workers has increased. A study from the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that there has been a 46% increase in the number of small businesses with between three and nine employees offering health care coverage this year. Additionally, the group Small Business Majority found that one-third of employers who don’t offer health insurance report they are more likely to start because of the new tax credit.

If the health care reform law was repealed, more than 126,000 small businesses in Michigan would lose the tax credit, according to an independent report by PIRGIM, a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy group.

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