Small-business owners voice concerns at open house

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CRYSTAL LAKE – Woodstock truck driver Larry Eslick worries that the rising cost of diesel fuel and emissions equipment will make it too expense to operate.

Robert Ward, chief financial officer of Advanced Flexible Composites, Inc., fears the affect that a 25 percent increase in petroleum-based raw materials will make it difficult for the Lake in the Hills company to compete with others in the non-stick coatings business. Those were a couple of many concerns voiced Tuesday night at an open house co-hosted by U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Egan, and the National Federation of Independent Business at American Community Bank. About 25 people participated in the roundtable discussion.

Manzullo, former chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Small Business, thinks the biggest issue facing American business is the rising cost of health care. This was complicated by legislative talk that would ban the sale of private insurance and create government-sponsored health care.

“Insurance companies; you have to fight with them all. But at least you’re not dealing with a government agency,” Manzullo said. “I don’t think Americans are ready for this kind of rationing.”

According to the NFIB, small businesses have experienced 129 percent jump in health insurance premiums during the last eight years, and pay on average about 20 percent more than large businesses for the same health care benefits. It launched its “Solutions Start Here” campaign in March, in an effort to keep premiums within reach.

A piece of legislation that might help – the Small Business Health Options Program Act – could resurface in 2009. Sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., it would provide tax credits for small business and the self-employed to offset the cost of health coverage. He and NFIB/ Illinois Assistant State Director Mark Grant urged small business leaders to gird themselves for a major fight on this issue – as well as rules for unionizing workers, estate taxes and preservation of tax credits signed into law by President Bush.

“If the tax cuts expire, every family of four will pay $2,000 to $3,000 more in income taxes,” Manzullo said.