House Votes to Cut Tax Red Tape

The House of Representatives voted Thursday to repeal a key part of the new health care reform law that required businesses to file a mountain of tax-related paperwork with the government.

The provision in the health law is often described as the IRS 1099 mandate. As a part of the law, business owners would have to file 1099 forms to report all transactions that cost more than $600. Congress imposed this mandate to reduce cheating. The thought was that more documentation would create more scrupulous tax filing. In turn, that would cut federal deficits by nearly $22 billion over the next decade.

Bringing in more revenue would help lower the cost of the health bill.

Opponents of the 1099 language argued that the law created busywork for firms that was an unfair imposition on small businesses.

President Obama called for Congress to repeal this section of the bill during his State of the Union message.

The vote was 314 to 112.