House votes to repeal health law's tax reporting requirement

Lawmakers continue to be at odds over how to pay for the repeal of this provision, which was originally included in the overhaul as a means to raise revenue to pay for it. The House's offset, for instance, would recoup advance tax subsidies given to lower- and middle-income people to buy insurance if their incomes exceed a certain threshold during the same calendar year.

The New York Times: House Votes To Help Small Businesses Comply With Health Bill, But Relief Is Held Up
The House voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to repeal burdensome tax-reporting requirements that were imposed on small businesses to help pay for the expansion of health insurance coverage under the new health care law. The House voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to repeal burdensome tax-reporting requirements that were imposed on small businesses to help pay for the expansion of health insurance coverage under the new health care law (Pear, 3/3).

The Wall Street Journal: Health Law Takes Trim In House Vote
The House voted to repeal an unpopular tax-reporting requirement affecting small-business owners, in what would be the first substantial change to last year's health law. … It requires smaller business owners to report more business transactions to the Internal Revenue Service, with the goal of curtailing tax evasion and raising government revenue. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the provision would raise about $18 billion over a decade. … However, the two chambers of Congress differ over how to fill the $18 billion gap that would be created by the 1099 repeal. The Senate measure simply instructed the White House budget office to find the savings in unspent federal money. The House measure seeks to claw back subsidies given to lower- and middle-income people to buy insurance if those people see their income grow beyond a certain threshold (Boles, 3/3).

The Washington Post: House Votes To Repeal '1099' Tax-Reporting Requirement In Health Care Law
The House on Thursday approved a measure that would repeal the unpopular '1099' tax-reporting requirement for small businesses included in the national health care law. … Both Democrats and Republicans, as well as the White House, support repealing the provision, which requires businesses to report to the Internal Revenue Service all purchases of $600 or more. But there remain deep partisan divisions over how to pay for 1099 repeal, which would result in an estimated $22 billion loss in revenue over the next decade (Sonmez, 3/3).

Politico: House Passes 1099 Repeal Bill
It's incredibly rare that the White House, Senate and House are in fierce agreement over an issue: health reform's 1099 tax-reporting requirements ought to be repealed. The House voted Thursday to do away with the reporting requirements, following on the heels of the Senate's February vote to do the same. Both efforts moved forward with strong bipartisan support — over three-quarters of both chambers showed support for the bills. Yet despite all the agreement, the issue is unlikely to move forward as the parties and chambers continue to squabble over an acceptable way to offset the $19 billion in lost revenues that would result from repeal (Haberkorn and Kliff, 3/3).

McClatchy: House Votes To Repeal Reviled Requirement In Health Law
House of Representatives on Thursday sliced a little bit out of the big health care law, with Democrats joining Republicans in the bid to ease business burdens. Amid some partisan and interpersonal flare-ups, the House voted 314-112 to repeal an expanded tax-reporting requirement imposed under the health care law last year. The provision primarily affects small businesses (Doyle, 3/3).

Reuters: House Votes To Rescind IRS Reporting Measure
The House of Representatives voted on Thursday to rescind an unpopular business tax reporting requirement in the year-old health care law, but the measure could be delayed by a dispute with Senate Democrats over how to pay for it. The House vote was 314-112, with 76 Democrats joining the majority Republicans despite concerns the method used to cover the cost of repealing the reporting requirements would weaken President Barack Obama's health care overhaul (Dixon and Smith, 3/3).

The Associated Press: House Votes To End Unpopular New Business Tax Rule
President Barack Obama's budget office released a statement saying the administration supports repealing the filing requirement "even though it was included in the health care law he championed" because it would "place an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses." The administration, however, opposes both the Senate and House plans to make up the potential revenue (3/3).