Press Release: Congresswoman Kristi Noem Discusses Impact of Health Insurance Tax with South Dakota Small Business Owners

From Stop the HIT Coalition:

Congresswoman Kristi Noem Discusses Impact of Health Insurance Tax with South Dakota Small Business Owners

Sioux Falls, SD (April 6, 2015) – Congresswoman Kristi Noem (R-South Dakota) joined local small business owners today in Sioux Falls to discuss how the health insurance tax, or HIT, is impacting local businesses and employees. The event was co-hosted by Click Rain, an online marketing business based in Sioux Falls, and the Stop the HIT Coalition, a broad based group representing the nation’s small business owners, their employees and the self-employed.

“I think today’s discussion was great because it really brought to light the burden that these employers feel to take care of their people and what increased costs and increased taxes really mean to them and the decisions they have to make to give healthcare benefits to their employees; or being forced to no longer offer them because of the increasing costs,” said Congresswoman Kristi Noem.

The HIT is an often-overlooked tax in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that significantly drives up health insurance costs for millions of small businesses. The tax amounts to $159 billion in new costs over the next decade, which is almost entirely passed on to small businesses and the self-employed who purchase coverage in the fully insured marketplace. The tax raises the cost of health insurance premiums for families by approximately $500 a year, according to an analysis by former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin.

“Every time there is a new tax and a new expense that adds on to an already increase in premiums year over year, it turns into something that is a burden that is unsustainable for the business and for our employees,” said Eric Yunag, President and CEO of Dakota Security Systems Inc.

South Dakota is home to more than 82,000 small businesses, which employ more than 197,000 workers. According to research by the National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation, the HIT will jeopardize between 152,000 to 286,000 private-sector jobs across the U.S. by 2023, and reduce real GDP by as much as $20 billion to $33 billion over the same period.

Congresswoman Noem is a cosponsor of H.R. 928, a bipartisan bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would repeal the HIT and permanently relieve small businesses of this burdensome tax. “This tax needs to be repealed,” stated Congresswoman Noem.

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