A couple weeks ago, House-Senate health care negotiators raised the idea of paying for health care reform by expanding the types of income subject to the Medicare payroll tax. Payroll taxes are limited to wages at the moment, but this proposal would also tax cap gains, dividends, interest, rents, and limited partners. Oh, and S corporation income.
S-CORP has a long history of advocacy on these issues and, while the future of health care reform is wholly uncertain following the special election in Massachusetts, we felt it was important for the business community to weigh in on this issue with strong opposition. The result is a letter signed by 20 trade associations opposing this concept. As the letter notes:
Expanding the application of the Medicare payroll tax to non-wage income is an unprecedented policy that would undermine the principle that Medicare is an earned entitlement, damage the integrity of the Medicare Trust Fund, and hurt Main Street businesses and jobs. We strongly urge you to reject this misguided policy.
This morning, a CongressDaily article makes clear that this idea continues to be actively discussed between House and Senate negotiators. While the prospects for health care reform are dim, leadership continues to press for some sort of resolution and apparently this payroll tax item is part of those talks. Peter Cohn reports that the House and Senate are divided on how to expand the Medicare tax:
Senate negotiators want to keep active S corporation income — other than income from passive investments — exempt from the payroll tax, fearing their chamber’s fragile voting math can ill afford what could be seen as a new small business tax, aides said. House lawmakers disagree, citing the revenue loss, relatively few actual small-business employers that would be affected, and potential to game the system — such as opting for S corporation status simply to avoid the tax.
We’ll keep you apprised on any new developments on this front. As we’ve mentioned before, our assessment is health care reform will be talked about for the next month or so and then just fade away as other priorities take center stage. There won’t be a funeral or closure, but the votes simply do no exist to move forward right now. That said, no bad idea ever goes away and we fully expect to see this payroll tax expansion to be raised on other bills.