Legislation to lower small business health care costs introduced

March 16, House Small Business Committee Chairman Don Manzullo (R-IL) joined Congresswoman Melissa Hart (R-PA) in introducing legislation to help the U.S.'s 25 million small business owners better afford health insurance for their families and their employees.

The Equity for Our Nation's Self-Employed Act (H.R. 4961) would allow small business owners to deduct health care costs from their payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare). The average self-employed individual pays $10,880 annually for health care coverage and would save $1,664 through this deduction.

Current law allows small business owners to deduct health insurance costs from their individual federal income taxes. Self-employed workers pay a 15.3 percent payroll tax on top of their individual income tax. Allowing them to deduct their health insurance costs from their payroll taxes effectively would reduce those costs by more than 15 percent.

The Hart-Manzullo bill is intended to make tax policy fairer for the self-employed. Corporations already are able to deduct their health care expenses from all their taxes. The legislation is supported strongly by a coalition of small business groups, including the National Association for the Self-Employed and the National Small Business Association.