
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 27, 1994                   TAG: 9409270090
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

MILLIONS LOSE TAX DEDUCTION

Several million self-employed Americans may be in for a rude surprise when they file their taxes next year. They will no longer be able to deduct a penny of the money they pay for health insurance.

The 25 percent tax deduction for the self-employed expired at the end of 1993. Lawmakers in both parties had expected to restore it and provide an even more generous break this year as part of health reform.

But the tax deduction for the self-employed has been buried for now in the wreckage of the health reform bills.

``It's kind of a shock,'' said Rebecca Anderson, a legislative analyst for the National Association for the Self-Employed. ``It was being held hostage to the health care debate. Now we're down to the wire, and ... everyone is saying it's not going to happen.''

``It's a crime,'' said John Motley, vice president for government affairs of the National Federation of Independent Business. ``Not only is there no health care reform, but we lost even the very meager incentive that small, self-employed people had to purchase health insurance.'' Corporations can deduct 100 percent of the costs of providing insurance for their employees.

More than 12 million Americans are self-employed for part or all of their livelihood, and almost 3 million have no health insurance, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

by CNB