Senator: We're Willing to Tweak Health Care Reform

One of the key architects of the Affordable Care Act is responding to objections from the small business community by repealing one of the bill's most unpopular, and least important, provisions: the 1099 rule.

The heck is that? As Annie Lowrey explained, the 1099 rule was designed to "improve compliance with the tax code" (usually that's Governmentese for "raise more money"). It forces employers to fill out a new form each time they pay more than $600 in services to a business in one year. As you can imagine, this can quickly turn tedious.

"A nearby restaurant where you have six $100 business lunches per year? You need to get their tax identification number and then fill out a 1099. Purchase $600 in office chairs? 1099," Lowrey writes. Businesses hate hurdles and burdens, so naturally, they hate this burdensome hurdle.

Sen. Max Baucus hears them loud and clear, and he's proposed to repeal form 1099 requirements. From a breaking announcement:

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) today announced he would introduce legislation to repeal requirements for businesses to file forms that would report payments made for goods and certain services to the IRS.  The proposal was originally written to keep taxes low by giving the IRS more tools to ensure all owed taxes were paid.  However, following passage of the law, some business owners expressed concern that when the provision does go into effect, the forms would place too large of a paperwork burden on businesses struggling in a still-recovering economy.  In response to those concerns, Baucus said today that he would repeal the new reporting requirements and look for other ways to improve tax compliance and keep taxes low.