By Katie Vlietstra
On behalf of America’s over 27 million self-employed and micro-businesses, we extend our welcome to the 115th Congress and look forward to working with you to support America’s small business community. We are your neighborhood accountants, bakers, plumbers and self-made entrepreneurs working along Main Streets throughout America helping to fuel our nation’s economy.
The American public and small businesses both overwhelmingly believe in the common theme of strengthening our economy. We all agree that it should be the top priority for President-elect Trump’s incoming Administration and the 115th Congress. It is our hope that there is wide bipartisan support for getting things done when it comes to providing affordable health care access, regulatory evaluation relief and reforming our tax code.
Having a robust and dynamic health care insurance system is crucial to ensuring a healthy and productive workforce. While the Affordable Care Act provided new avenues for the self-employed to have access to comprehensive health care coverage, the exchange marketplace, however, is being stifled by burdensome requirements that are pushing insurers out of the market and causing premiums to dramatically increase. We must work with Congress to put into place a dynamic insurance marketplace that guarantees the self-employed have access to comprehensive and affordable health insurance. A healthy workforce will ensure our economy continues to grow and provide opportunities for entrepreneurs.
The small business community also needs a regulatory evaluation process that is not burdensome and detrimental to the economy. We need an enhanced regulatory evaluation process before any new regulation is enacted to evaluate any potential impact on the small business community and overall economy. For instance, the Fiduciary rule, an overly complex rule being imposed on retirement advisors (who are often self-employed professionals), is just another example of instituting a regulation that is restrictive to the many retirement advisors that are working to ensure the self-employed and micro-business owners have adequate savings for retirement. We encourage the new Congress to swiftly pass both the REINS ACT, legislation that would require Congress to approve new major regulations, and the MIDNIGHT RULES ACT, which allows Congress to disapprove of late-stage administration regulations en masse, expected to be on the agenda this week.
The issue of tax reform has received more lip service than real action in the last few years. But President-elect Trump’s Administration with a Republican-led Congress has signaled a potential change. While comprehensive tax reform should be considered to ensure everyone is treated equal by the tax system, the small business community would greatly benefit from reforming the individual tax rate, which is where the majority of the self-employed file. We need a simpler and fairer tax system than benefits all types of businesses, and this includes simplifying the definition of an independent contractor, as well as offering a standard business deduction and ensuring an “employee” is also defined as an owner.
We look forward to working with you and President-elect Trump’s Administration to ensure all Americans are treated fairly by our government while boosting our economic outlook. Our smallest employers, including new and future entrepreneurs, self-employed and a diverse range of small businesses, are counting on your support to make America strong and prosperous in 2017 and beyond.
Please Note that the above article represents the viewpoints of the National Association of the Self-Employed (NASE)
