• Senate Introduces Self-Employment Tax Bill
• Weren’t Able to Attend Small Business Week? Watch it on SBTV.com!

Senate Introduces Self-Employment Tax Bill

In a major step forward for the self-employed and micro-business owners, legislation introduced last week in the Senate addresses health-care affordability as a leading concern of small business today and as a key impediment to job creation and growth.

The “Equity for Our Nation’s Self-Employed Act of 2004,” S. 2433 – introduced last week by Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Senator Craig Thomas (R-WY) as a companion bill to H.R.1873 in the House of Representatives – offers the strongest course for correcting the health-care cost inequities uniquely imposed on the nation’s 16 million self-employed individuals. The introduction of the Senate bill comes on the heels of national Cover the Uninsured Week and at the start of National Small Business Week.

The House and Senate bills strike at the heart of the cost inequities faced by the self-employed as the only business group required to pay taxes on health-care costs. As a result, the self-employed pay on average almost 20 percent more for insurance than workers for larger corporations. Both bills call for eliminating the strong tax penalties imposed on the self-employed, which currently require them to pay a 15.3 percent “self-employment tax” on all of their health-care expenses. The pending legislation would enable the self-employed to deduct their health-care premiums as a normal business expense, as larger corporations already are allowed to do.

The rising cost of health care consistently ranks at the top of issues of concern for small businesses. According to NASE research, 70 percent of micro-businesses with fewer than ten employees do not offer health coverage, with costs cited as the key reason. For many micro-business owners, the burden of providing health-care coverage under the current conditions is a major impediment to hiring and job creation.

“We consistently hear that health-care costs are a major concern in hiring today,” said NASE President Robert Hughes. “The newly introduced Senate bill will go a long way toward reducing costs and overcoming this important economic barrier.”

Urge your Members of Congress to support H.R. 1873 and S. 2433 at the NASE Legislative Action Center  

Weren't Able to Attend Small Business Week? Watch it on SBTV.com!

Interested in National Small Business Week, but weren’t able to travel to Orlando for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Expo ’04? You’re in luck!

The Small Business Television Network, www.sbtv.com, has video archives of all the Expo’s highlights including an interview with SBA Deputy Administrator Melanie Sabelhaus, the Celebrating Women in Business breakfast, awards luncheon, and on-the-spot interviews with attendees. SBTV is the first television network on the Web devoted 100 percent to the small business market - from business start-ups to established enterprises.

Watch this exciting coverage at www.sbtv.com/sbaexpo04.asp.