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Small Businesses: Oppose Confusing, Complicated, Cumbersome Senate Bill and Pass a 1-Year Extension of Payroll Tax Holiday

December 19, 2011 — In Case You Missed It...   

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), writing on behalf of construction-related firms with nearly 2 million employees
“[T]he proposed two month stop-gap measure merely serves to delay the inevitable tough decisions, compounding the climate of uncertainty that continues to impact small businesses…Instead of passing the buck for another two months, the House and Senate must work together to determine their policies for the full year and provide some semblance of certainty for the companies driving our economy.”

Associated General Contractors of America
(AGC), writing on behalf of more than 5 million people employed in the construction industry:
“Members of the AGC tend to be small businesses…This legislation will extend the payroll tax holiday in the most complex way possible, at the busiest time possible, provide little benefit to taxpayers and unfairly hit the small member companies of the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) the hardest.”

National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s largest small business advocacy association representing 350,000 small business owners:
“The two month payroll tax holiday would present a number of complications and costs that would disproportionately affect small businesses…[M]any small employers do payroll processing in-house by hand, and this would require them to spend time to make these changes.  Employers that do not have correct withholding calculations would need to figure out how much more to collect from employees and amend employment tax returns later in the year, which may also increase their chances for an audit.”

National Payroll Reporting Consortium (NPRC), whose member organizations provide payroll processing to over 1.5 million employers nationwide, covering over one-third of the private sector work force:
“[W]e believe there is insufficient lead time to accommodate the proposal embodied in H.R. 3630.  In our opinion enactment of HR 3630 as written could create substantial problems, confusion and costs affecting a significant percentage of U.S. employers and employees.  The difficulty is in establishing a new Social Security Taxable Wage limit of $18,350 for the two month extension period.”

National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA), writing on behalf of its 4,000 members:
“…NRCA is concerned that the proposed two-month extension would cause ‘substantial problems, confusion and costs’ for employers.  As the NPRC states, many payroll systems would simply not be able to make the programming changes that the proposed two-month extension would require. This would impose an undue burden on employers in the form of logistical difficulties and costs.”

Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE), on behalf of its 100,000 members:
“The confusion that the two-month extension would impose on employers or their payroll providers will inevitably divert resources away from productive activities.  Indeed, the uncertainty regarding what happens next following the two-month expiration date will serve as additional fuel to currently low business confidence levels…Individual Americans and entrepreneurs need to plan, and they are tired of these short-term fixes.  The two-month extension is unacceptable.”

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SUBCOMMITTEE: Tax    SUBCOMMITTEE: Full Committee