Facts Show
that Blue Dog “Deal” Still a Small Business Job Killer

The Democrats’ government takeover of health care is still a job-killer for small businesses.  Using Census data compiled by the Small Business Administration, the “small business exemption” included in the “deal” [1] that four Blue Dog Democrats cut with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) is still a small business job killer.  Here are the facts:

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• This “deal” still imposes new taxes and mandates on small employers with only, on average, 17 or more employees.
• It still imposes new taxes and mandates on 844,842 small businesses.
• The small businesses that are affected by this “deal” employ 70 percent of all small business employees, or 42.3 million workers.  And the small employers targeted by the “deal” provide $1.5 trillion in wages for their employees.
• This “deal” still imposes the full eight percent payroll tax on small businesses with only, on average, 32 employees – showing just how bare this “exemption” really is.
• Lastly, adding to the assault on small business, the Democrats’ also fail to index the payroll caps to inflation.  In other words, just as the Alternative Minimum Tax ensnares more and more taxpayers each year, so too will the Democrats’ small business taxes and mandates under this “deal.”

As a result, it is simply untrue to claim that the Democrats’ new “exemption” protects small businesses from the onerous tax increases and expensive mandates.  This is still a small business job-killer, and during an economic recession the last thing the American people need is job-killing legislation that harms our economy.

[1] Based on reports that the “deal” will fully exempt from the “pay or play” employer mandate those small businesses with annual payroll under $500,000, gradually phase-out the exemption for small businesses with annual payrolls up to $750,000, and subject small businesses with annual payrolls in excess of $750,000 to the full payroll tax.