Watch for health care smoke screen

Opponents of health care reform are using expanded 1099 reporting as a smoke screen to dissuade public support and to distract from health care reform benefits, e.g., affordable coverage for millions of uninsured, no pre-existing conditions, no lifetime limits, etc. Expanded 1099 reporting has nothing to do with health care reform.

Expanded 1099 reporting was enacted primarily to ensure that all small business owners report all their income. The Department of Treasury estimates that at least $285 billion in income taxes are not paid annually because of deliberate under reporting of income. That is almost $3 trillion per decade.

Many small business owners under report income deliberately; many seasonal business owners don’t file income tax returns. I am a CPA and used to do income tax returns for small business owners. I would get the same question every year: “How much income do I have to report?”

My ethical code and the law required that I tell all my clients, “You must report all your income from all sources and must have proof for all your expenses.” Unfortunately, honesty does not always count when it comes to paying taxes, which is why expanded 1099 reporting is necessary. It has nothing to do with health care reform.

So next time you hear health care opponents trashing health care reform, make sure they are talking about health care reform issues, not throwing up a smoke screen.

George W. Lewis, CPA

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