A hit we can avoid.

• Author: Tamagni, Al
• Position: INSURANCE OP-ED - Column

As the owner of a small pension administration firm in Anchorage, I have had a front row seat for the economic turmoil of the last few years. From the scary and turbulent times of the recession to the cautiously optimistic feelings around the nascent recovery, I have seen how the economy has a real effect on the mental and material well-being of the people I work with.

My position allows me the opportunity to work with business leaders from every corner of the economy. From the service industry to healthcare to construction--my clients run the gamut. But as diverse as these clients are, they all seem to share one similarity: a concern for what a little-talked-about tax from President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act will do to their bottom lines.

The health insurance tax, or HIT for short, is a tax on the health care policies purchased in the fully-insured and individual markets. Over the course of the next 10 years, people purchasing these health insurance policies will pay a total of $100 billion just toward this specific tax. Much of that $100 billion in increased taxes will come straight out of the pockets of small business owners and their employees.

You see, unlike many large businesses and labor unions that use self-insured health care plans, 100 percent of small businesses and self-employed individuals purchase health insurance on the HIT-affected fully-insured and individual markets. All told, about 36 million Americans will be on the hook for a tax increase of $500 a year. For an individual or family, that is a significant amount. For a business that employs 20, 30 or 40 people, the numbers can get very big, very fast.

Alaska's 68,000 small businesses and their 284,000 employees certainly have an interest in seeing the HIT repealed. But so do those not directly affected. The HIT could mean the local hardware store closes its doors...