Thursday, June 2, 2011

Obamacare Hurting, Not Helping, American Small Businesses

The Wall Street Journal’s blog reports on a new survey by the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council regarding the health care law’s small business tax credit – which according to the survey has been far from a resounding success: 

The SBE Council polled a random sample of 304 small-business owners and found that only 7% have taken advantage of the health-care tax credit.  A full 87% hadn’t used it at all, though 27% of those respondents said they couldn’t because they weren’t eligible, according to the survey, conducted by TechnoMetrica on the Council’s behalf at the end of April.  Another 6% weren’t sure if they had or hadn’t used the credit.  Of just those who didn’t take it, 21% said it was too small or offered no real benefit, and 3% said it was too complex.

And if the meager (and administratively complex) tax credit included in Obamacare wasn’t helpful to small business, the nearly $800 billion in higher taxes in the law isn’t likely to help American job creators either.  The survey is another indication how the 2700-page law is only contributing to continued economic stagnation and poor job growth nationwide.