Senate repeals part of health care law - 1099 Requirement

The Democrats have thrown us a carrot to show that they are responsive to the people. This was a well known flaw in the legislation passed last year and yet, the Democrats insisted in its inclusion. Makes me wonder if it was kept so that they could look good in the fury that followed. Skeptic that I am.

Excerpt: The Senate voted Wednesday for the first time to repeal a piece of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, rolling back a new tax reporting requirement that’s been universally panned by business owners.

The amendment to repeal the 1099 reporting requirement passed 81-17 with broad bipartisan support.

The provision was one that Obama identified in his State of the Union speech as something that Democrats were willing to change.

The Senate voted several times last year on repealing the requirement, but all the attempts failed amid partisan bickering over how to pay for it. Republicans made an attempt to repeal the provision by taking money from the health reform law’s prevention and wellness fund. Democrats tried to repeal it without paying for it.

The provision would have required business owners to file 1099 tax documents on all cumulative purchases from a single vendor that total more than $600 in a year.

It was included in the health law because it would have raised about $17 billion in previously uncollected taxes. A bipartisan collection of business groups have opposed the provision, arguing that it would bury them in paperwork.

Read full POLITICO article here.