Health care, taxes top issues for small business

In this Aug. 3, 2011 photo provided by the National Federation of Independent Business, the group's president and CEO, Dan Danner, left, and former Democratic U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas announce a campaign to target what they say are an increasing number of regulations that are hampering small business' ability to create jobs and economic growth, in Washington. (NFIB, William B. Plowman) / AP

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The Associated Press

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• Business

NEW YORK — Dan Danner never expected to end up in the middle of the health care debate. Or, for that matter, in politics.

As president of the National Federation of Independent Business, the biggest advocacy group representing small business owners in the U.S., Danner helped oversee the organization’s attempt to overturn the health care overhaul. Last month, the NFIB’s lawyers were among those arguing against the law before the Supreme Court.

The NFIB, which has lobbied for small businesses since its founding in 1943, contends that the law will harm small businesses by driving up their health insurance costs. It argued that a provision that requires individuals to purchase health insurance is unconstitutional. Both sides in the debate are waiting to see if the Supreme Court strikes down the individual mandate or the entire law — or allows the law as a whole to stand.

Danner is on the forefront of other issues that affect the NFIB’s 350,000 members, many of whom have companies with just a handful of employees. He leads the NFIB’s lobbying on concerns such as taxes and regulation. The group is among many business advocates calling for lower tax rates for small business owners whose companies are sole proprietorships, partnerships and what are called S corporations. The profits from these companies aren’t taxed — they’re “passed through” to their owners, who are then taxed as individuals. Often, their tax rates are higher than those for companies like General Motors Corp. and Apple Inc.

Many tax rates, including individual rates, are scheduled to go up at the end of the year, unless Congress acts before then. Individuals could pay as much as 39.5 percent.

Danner joined the NFIB in 1993 after lobbying for steel maker Armco Inc. and holding positions in the Department of Commerce and the Reagan White House. Politics wasn’t his first choice.

“I was torn in college between acting and being an engineer,” Danner says. “I pretty quickly figured out I wasn’t good enough at either one. I figured out I better find another career, and somehow, I stumbled into politics.”