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Stop The HIT Roundtable
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – On Thursday, October 13, 2011 West Virginia small business owners and business leaders from Charleston, Wheeling, Beckley, Winfield and other areas of the state met with representatives from local and statewide business groups to address how the HIT will slow the economic recovery and the importance of repealing the tax before it siphons billions of dollars from the small business community.
- The Health Insurance Tax (HIT), part of health care reform – the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) – signed into law last year will add staggering new costs for the West Virginia small business community.
- In West Virginia, small businesses account for 53 percent of all private sector jobs.
- The HIT will reduce the take-home pay of West Virginia small business employees with a family plan by $500 a year or $5,000 in the first decade, alone.
- The HIT will fall on the shoulders of West Virginia’s 120,424 small businesses since it is levied on insurance companies in the full insured marketplace where 87 percent of small businesses purchase their insurance.
- Increased costs for small businesses, like the HIT, translate to restrictions on their ability to grow, create jobs and lower the 8.1 percent unemployment rate in West Virginia.
The added cost on small employers will inevitably force jobless claims to rise in West Virginia. The only way for the job outlook to improve in West Virginia is for action to be taken on a state and federal level. One of the most important things that elected officials in Washington can do to create jobs in West Virginia is to support legislation in Congress to repeal the Health Insurance Tax.
More information about the Stop The HIT can be found at www.StopTheHIT.com.
