COCHRAN VOTES TO REPEAL IRS MANDATE ON SMALL BUSINESSES
Senate Sends White House a Bill Striking Health Care Reform Requirement
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) today voted to repeal a section of the year-old health care reform law that would have required businesses, local governments, churches and charities to file Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 1099 forms for transactions totaling more than $600 a year.
The Senate voted 87-12 on Tuesday to fully repeal the IRS 1099 reporting requirement that was signed into law in March 2010 as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The repeal legislation (HR.4) will now be sent to President Obama.
“Overturning this mandate on small businesses and local governments will eliminate the burden on them to spend valuable time and resources reporting to the IRS. This mandate should not have been part of the health care reform process in the first place,” Cochran said.
“The repeal of the IRS 1099 reporting requirements is just the first of many steps Congress must take to turn back the serious flaws in the health care reform law,” he said.
Without a congressional repeal, businesses, local governments, churches and charities would have been compelled to issue IRS 1099 tax forms to individuals, corporations or contract workers from which they purchased more than $600 in goods or services in a tax year. This year, Cochran cosponsored similar Senate legislation and amendments offered by Senator Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) to repeal the 1099 provision from the health care reform law.
The Senate this week also could consider an amendment cosponsored by Cochran to stop implementation of the health care reform law at federal and state levels until there is a final judicial resolution of lawsuits challenging its constitutionality. The amendment is currently pending as part of the Senate debate on the Small Business Innovation and Research/Small Business Technology Transfer Program Reauthorization Bill (S.493). The state of Mississippi is party to one of the major suits against the health care reform law.
Since the start of the 112th Congress in January, Cochran has cosponsored a number of measures related to the Affordable Care Act. He cosponsored the Repeal the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act (S.192) to completely overturn the Affordable Care Act and the health care-related sections of the subsequent Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (PL.111-152). He also signed onto three other measures (S.18, S.19 and S.20) to repeal certain provisions of the law, including employer and individual mandates regarding health insurance coverage.
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April 4, 2010
Magnolia Tribune
