The House voted to impose over half a billion dollars in compliance costs on businesses each year.
The House of Representatives passed the Corporate Transparency Act late last month. The bill, which would impose over half a billion dollars in compliance costs on businesses each year, threatens small business owners with criminal charges and financial penalties for failure to provide sensitive personal information about beneficial ownership.
If signed into law, small businesses with less than 20 employees will be required to collect and file reports with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) about the legal and beneficial owners of their businesses. The information required in these reports includes names, dates of birth, addresses, and driver’s license or passport numbers of business owners.
Once collected, this information would be available to federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies without a subpoena or warrant.
With the exception of Republican Rep. Garret Graves, who broke ranks and voted in favor of the bill, Louisiana’s congressional delegation voted for and against the bill along party lines. NFIB, which lobbied extensively against the bill, announced that it will be considered a key vote for legislative rankings.
Graves isn’t the only Louisiana Republican to support the legislation. Sen. John Kennedy agreed to sign on as an original co-sponsor of the Senate companion bill.
“The House today not only shouldered millions of small business owners with a tremendous compliance burden but put their personally identifiable information at serious risk,” said NFIB President & CEO Juanita D. Duggan after the vote. “The reporting requirements and devastating financial penalties will affect only small businesses, from farmers to franchisees to the mom-and-pop retail shop down the street. It is a big-government solution in search of a small-business problem, and we will not cease our efforts to stand up for small businesses against this serious threat.”
With the majority of small business owners personally handling their company’s financial paperwork and record-keeping, overburdensome regulatory paperwork burdens already rank high in terms of issues small business owners care about most. If this bill becomes law, Louisiana’s small business owners will be required to file even more paperwork to the federal government with serious penalties for failing to properly comply with the bill’s requirements.
