By Robert Pear; New York Times
About one-third of employers subject to major requirements of the new health care law may face tax penalties because they offer health insurance that could be considered unaffordable to some employees, a new study says.
The study, by Mercer, one of the nation’s largest employee benefit consulting concerns, is based on a survey of nearly 3,000 employers.… Read more »
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar; Associated Press
Zach Hoffman was confident his small business would qualify for a new tax cut in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law.
But when he ran the numbers, Hoffman discovered that his office furniture company wouldn't get any assistance with the $79,200 it pays annually in premiums for its 24 employees. "It leaves you with this feeling… Read more »
By Meredith Whitney; Wall Street Journal
The next several weeks will be critically important for politicians, regulators and the larger U.S. economy. First, over the next week Capitol Hill will decide on potentially game-changing regulatory reform that could result in the unintended consequences of restricting credit and further damaging small businesses.
Second, states will approach… Read more »
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar; Associated Press
Attorneys general and governors for 20 states won't be alone in their legal challenge to President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
The nation's most influential small business lobby is going to court with them.
The National Federation of Independent Business will join the argument that Americans cannot be required under the… Read more »
By David Hogberg; Investor's Business Daily
A little-noticed provision in the new health care law may not only dramatically increase paperwork for small businesses, but also put them at a disadvantage against their larger competitors.
At issue is the law's Section 9006, which is supposed to generate tax revenues by expanding the reporting requirements for 1099 tax forms.
Under… Read more »
By Meen Thiruvengadam; Wall Street Journal
U.S. efforts to stabilize the financial system have done little to boost small business lending and it remains unclear what impact the Obama administration's latest lending push will have, a report released Thursday said.
The report from the Congressional Oversight Panel, which oversees the government's $700 billion financial sector bailout,… Read more »
By Hal Weitzman; Financial Times
Small businesses in the US are still cutting jobs, even though they are more optimistic about economic conditions than they have been in two years, according to a survey released yesterday by the National Federation of Independent Business, a lobby group.
The sentiment among businesses with fewer than 500 employees helps explain why unemployment rates… Read more »
By Sarah E. Needleman; Wall Street Journal
Small-business hiring continues to show little sign of a recovery, despite recent efforts by Washington to stimulate job creation.
April marked the 27th consecutive month in which small businesses either shed more or the same number of jobs that they added, according to a monthly survey to be released Tuesday by the National Federation of… Read more »
By Diana Furchtgott-Roth; RealClearMarkets
Low-skilled workers have some of the highest unemployment rates in America. Adults without high school diplomas face an unemployment rate of 14.5%, almost three times as high as rates for college graduates, and well above the national average of 9.7%. The unemployment rate for teens, another low-skill group, is 26%.
Reasonable people likely… Read more »
By Neil deMause; CNN Money
An all-but-overlooked provision of the health reform law is threatening to swamp U.S. businesses with a flood of new tax paperwork.
Section 9006 of the health care bill -- just a few lines buried in the 2,409-page document -- mandates that beginning in 2012 all companies will have to issue 1099 tax forms not just to contract workers but to any individual or… Read more »
