Small businesses can’t seem to get a break from Washington.  The health care bill is moving through Congress and it would impose added costs on our small business owners, mandating that they provide their employees with health care.  Legislation to mandate paid sick leave is gaining steam on Capitol Hill.  And, now Congress is fast tracking legislation that would create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) that would further regulate the flow of capital.

Specifically, the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency would assume regulatory responsibilities related to consumer finance now performed by other federal agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).  The role of the federal government in determining what financial products consumers can access would grow.

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Congress is at it again, using the excuse of the swine flu to mandate paid sick leave.  This time the pig’s nose is under the tent. 

Last week the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on a proposal, H.R. 3991, the Emergency Influenza Containment Act.  If passed, this bill would require employers with as few as 15 employees to provide five days of paid sick leave per 12 month period to all full or part time workers who are sent home by their employer or directed to stay home by their employer because of contagious illness such as the H1N1 virus.  The Senate also held a hearing on the issue.

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On November 7 around 11:15 pm when a lot of people were asleep, the House of Representatives passed (by two votes) a massive 2,032 page health care reform bill (HR 3962) that will cost $1.3 trillion, impose new taxes and mandate employers to provide health care coverage.  It is the wrong prescription for our economy, for consumers and for businesses of all sizes.

The bill amounts to a federal takeover of our health care system.  It creates 111 new boards, bureaucracies, commissions and programs!  A few samples include the Health Choices Administration, Council for Emergency Care, National Women’s Health Information Center and the Public Health Investment Fund (a full list of all 111 new bureaucracies can be found below). 

There was another way.  House Republicans offered some common sense ideas that the National Center for Policy Analysis has been pushing for years – giving our small businesses the ability to cross state lines to purchase health care, providing them access to more affordable health care for their employees.  The alternative also works to reduce health care costs by enacting medical liability reform.

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The estate tax was debated on Capitol Hill last week and the NCPA had a front row seat.  The House Small Business Committee held a hearing “Small Businesses and the Estate Tax: Identifying Reforms to Meet the Needs of Small Firms and Family Farmers” where I testified about the need to eliminate the estate tax because it is:

• ANTI-family- Does not allow parents to pass their hard work and wealth on to their children
• ANTI-farm- Farms are especially vulnerable because they hold vast amounts of land which are subject to the estate tax as they are passed from generation to generation
• ANTI-small business- Hurts small businesses that don’t enjoy the same tax shelters and benefits as large corporations

Small business owners and family farmers have large investments in infrastructure and many don’t have the large capital assets they need to pay the tax, and many times are forced to sell the business just to meet their financial obligations. 

Our small businesses are struggling.  They are struggling to keep their doors open, their employees paid and access to capital flowing.  They don’t need any more taxes – not now and not when they die.   What do you think?