02.02.11

In Support of Small Business, Cantwell Leads Senate Passage of Bipartisan 1099 Repeal Amendment

Cantwell-cosponsored amendment would eliminate a tax reporting burden for Washington businesses

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) joined U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) in leading Senate passage of an amendment to relieve millions of small businesses from a potentially burdensome tax reporting requirement enacted in the health care reform law. The 1099 tax reporting requirement would have required businesses to file a 1099 form with the Internal Revenue Service for each vendor to whom they have made payments of at least $600. The Stabenow-Cantwell amendment to repeal the 1099 requirement passed Wednesday with overwhelming bipartisan support, by an 81-17 margin.
 
“Today, we answered the call of small business owners from Washington state and across the nation by repealing a requirement they told us would be burdensome and detrimental to their businesses,” Senator Cantwell said. “Small businesses are the growth engine that drive our economy, and I am proud today to stand with a bipartisan coalition in support of small business job growth. Today’s bipartisan vote will strengthen the health reform law by easing this reporting provision on small businesses, and I hope it forms a foundation for more common-sense, job-promoting legislation to come.”
 
The Stabenow-Cantwell amendment to repeal the 1099 reporting requirement is strongly supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and numerous other business groups.
 
Cantwell, a member of the Senate Small Business and Finance committees, has long fought for legislation supporting small business growth. She played a leading role in authoring and championing the Small Business Jobs Act, which was signed into law last September. The Small Business Jobs Act delivers more than $55 billion in tax relief to businesses in 2010 and 2011. The tax provisions improve liquidity, encourage investment, and promote entrepreneurship for small businesses. Cantwell was a leading Senate advocate for the bill’s fully paid-for Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF), which leverages a $30 billion public investment into $300 billion in private-sector lending to credit-worthy small businesses through sound community banks.
 
Small businesses account for 60 to 75 percent of all new job creation. There are 27 million small businesses in America, with 50 percent of working Americans either owning or working for a small business. In Washington state, all employers – including more than 100,000 small business owners – will no longer have to worry about the increased reporting requirements if this legislation is signed into law.
 
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