Dueling proposals to alter tax-reporting mandate fail in Senate

[mike r]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Despite a backlash from small businesses over a new tax-reporting requirement in the healthcare law, Democrats and Republicans failed again Tuesday to agree on a way to fix the problem, as two amendments to eliminate or modify the mandate collapsed in the Senate.

The law currently requires businesses to report to the IRS transactions worth more than $600, a provision that was added to the law to raise an estimated $17 billion over the next decade and offset the cost of expanding coverage to millions of uninsured Americans.

The small section of the gargantuan bill, which is unrelated to healthcare, garnered little attention when it was inserted into the bill.

But in recent months, business leaders have signaled growing alarm over what many businesses say would be an administrative nightmare. The reporting requirement is to go into effect in 2012.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/sc-dc-health-tax-20100915,0,6624882.story