• Work from Home? Bill Provides Incentives
• Social Security Reform Proposals on the Table
• Shadegg, DeMint Work for More Health Choices

Work from Home? Bill Provides Incentives

A bill introduced in the United States Senate and House of Representatives last week seeks to assist working parents and home-based businesses. The Parents’ Tax Relief Act, introduced by Representative Lee Terry (R-NE) in the House and Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) in the Senate creates a telecommuting tax credit to encourage employers to offer full and part-time telecommuting jobs. It also includes the development of a standard home-office tax deduction, a measure that has been a top legislative priority for the NASE. Representatives Phil Gingrey (R-GA), Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), John Doolittle (R-CA), and Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) also spoke in favor of the bill at a press conference announcing the bill. “Many home-based business owners prepare their own taxes. The complexity and paperwork burden of this deduction discourages many qualifying home-based business owners from benefiting,” said Kristie Darien, executive director of the NASE legislative office. “Having the option of a standard home-office deduction will give many more business owners a tax deduction that can be used to help grow their businesses further.” NASE Member Susan Waldman, who has run a marketing consulting business from her home office in Arlington, Va., for over ten years, participated in an event with the representatives hailing the introduction of the bill. “There is no greater need for a young child than the need to have their parents be accessible to them. And, there are fewer struggles greater for millions of us than finding a way to deliver that while working to make ends meet. The Parents’ Tax Relief Bill will provide much-needed help to parents and home-based business owners such as myself,” commented Waldman. NASE Member Susan Waldman speaks at the press event as Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) watches. If passed, the Parents’ Tax Relief Act would: Create a home-office standard deduction option Create a Telecommuting Tax Credit to encourage employers to offer full and part-time telecommuting jobs Extend the Dependent Care Tax Credit to stay-at-home parents with young children Make the Child Tax Credit permanent and increase the personal child tax exemption Eliminate the marriage penalty on joint filing Protect Stay-at-Home Parents’ Social Security by allowing up to ten years of flexible Social Security employment credits for mothers or fathers who stay at home to raise children six or younger Nearly 50 percent of the NASE’s 250,000 member businesses are based out of a home office. The NASE understands that simplification and expansion of the home-office deduction would greatly help micro-businesses in this country. The Parents’ Tax Relief Act helps to address many needs of those who work from home. “The current rules for the home office deduction are too burdensome for sole proprietors to take advantage of it, and that needs to change,” said NASE Member Chris Krupinski of ck art and design in Fairfax, Va., a home-office studio that provides graphic design and fine art. “A standardized deduction would go a long way in helping me.” For more information on the NASE position on home-based businesses, visit http://advocacy.NASE.org. Tell your legislators to support the Parents’ Tax Relief Act, by visiting the online NASE Legislative Action Center at http://advocacy.NASE.org.

Social Security Reform Proposals on the Table

Two Republican versions of Social Security reform were introduced in Congress last week, one in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate. The legislation incorporates President Bush’s proposal of personal accounts but to a much lesser degree than the president was hoping for. The personal accounts created by these bills would be smaller than those in Bush’s plan. Bush had suggested allowing as much as a $3,600 contribution to personal accounts by each individual, whereas the bills introduced last week would allow as little as $588 in contributions. Additionally, under the new proposal, private accounts would be funded only by the Social Security surplus – the amount of payroll taxes not currently used to pay benefits. Currently, the Social Security surplus is used by the government to fund other programs, with the promise of repayment. This bill would only allow the surplus to be used for Social Security personal accounts. Much of the debate over Social Security reform revolves around the problem of upcoming bankruptcy of the entitlement program. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Representative Jim McCrery’s (R-LA) proposals do nothing to fix the insolvency issue, or to delay when that bankruptcy will occur. Most Democrats, like Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), criticize the plan as “a smaller version of a bad idea,” referring to Bush’s proposal of private accounts while Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) calls the bill “a great start.” The House bill has a more complex system of surplus personal accounts than the Senate version. Both bills aim to get more public support for personal accounts. Representative Bill Thomas (R-CA) is said to be writing legislation that will include this proposal in addition to ways to address the solvency issues and improvements in retirement savings. To let your legislators know your views on Social Security reform, visit the online NASE Legislative Action Center at http://advocacy.NASE.org.

Shadegg, DeMint Work for More Health Choices

The National Association for the Self-Employed applauds the efforts of Representative John Shadegg (R-AZ) and Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) for introducing the Health Care Choice Act of 2005, a bill that would allow individuals to purchase insurance across state lines. If enacted, the legislation would permit people to compare policies across the country to select the insurance that is best for them. “Rather than go through 50 different regulatory processes, this bill will allow an insurance company to go through one process and sell to people in all 50 states,” Shadegg said. “We can help people, not by setting up a massive new government bureaucracy, but by empowering individuals to make the best choice for themselves and their families.” Under this policy, insurance providers will still have to meet the mandates set in the state from which they sell. Once they have met the mandates for that state, individuals from other states will be able to purchase the same policy. Therefore, proponents say, mandates designed to protect the individuals purchasing the insurance would still be in place. It would make purchasing insurance less expensive for individuals in states with high mandates.v According to a June 2002 study released by the NASE entitled “Affordability in Health Care: Trends in American Micro-Business,” seven in 10 micro-business owners report they do not provide any type of health care coverage to eligible employees nor have coverage for themselves. Costs are cited as the chief reason for this trend. “The Health Care Choice Act of 2005 will provide the self-employed and micro-business owners with access to significantly more health insurance options at varying price ranges,” said NASE President Robert Hughes in a letter of support. “This bill would provide entrepreneurs with the power of choice and allow them to become proactive health care consumers able to choose the type of insurance they need and can afford.” “This bill brings us one step closer to a consumer-driven health care system that is geared for the future,” said DeMint. “Americans will be able to pick policies with the benefits they really need and won’t be forced to pay for things they don’t need.” The NASE supports health policies such as health savings accounts, association health plans and health tax credits to make insurance affordable for micro-business owners and the self-employed. For more information on the NASE's position on health care, visit http://advocacy.NASE.org/.