On the recordSeptember 13, 2010
I am sympathetic, I must admit, to the broader aims of the Johanns amendment. On a bipartisan basis, Senators want to change the information reporting rules for small businesses under the health reform law. But the $19.2 billion cost of the Johanns amendment is excessive. Moreover, to pay for it by slashing funds from wellness and prevention, by gutting this whole program until 2018, is deeply misguided. It perpetuates the disastrous notion that we can neglect and defund prevention efforts without paying huge long-term costs in terms of unnecessary chronic disease and disability and skyrocketing health insurance premiums. The purpose of the reporting requirement Senator Johanns is going after is to prevent fraud where many businesses may lie about the income they receive, thereby not paying their taxes. What does that mean? It just shifts taxes to the people who are honest and the businesses that are honest. Where the IRS has complete information on incomes such as salaries, which are covered by W-2 reports, compliance is 99 percent. But where there is no reporting, we see the reporting of income fall in half in some of the business categories. I support the alternative amendment offered by Senator Bill Nelson. It provides a balance regarding the reporting requirement. His amendment completely eliminates any reporting burden on the great majority of small businesses--those with fewer than 25 employees at any given point in a year.
