Boston aims for Walmart, hits small businesses

Lawmakers in the Bay State are considering a 5% payroll tax for businesses that do not provide health care benefits to their employees. The idea is that large corporations should help to shoulder some of the costs picked up by the state through programs such as MassHealth. But some small businesses are balking at the new measure including this Cape Cod coffee shop owner:

If the House payroll tax became law, [Caroline] Geishecker said, she would try to blunt its effect by hiring fewer people, eliminating paid holidays, and paying less than the $9 an hour her lowest-paid workers now earn.

''Not to be mean, but I have to look at the hard bottom line," she said.

Raising prices to counter the cost of a health insurance tax would not be an option, she said. ''You can't charge $4 for a cup of coffee. Nobody would pay it." While the House bill would affect all businesses with more than 10 workers, large chains and businesses with higher profit margins could more easily absorb the costs, she added.

Wait, wait, wait a second. Are you telling me that if you increase the cost of hiring employees, businesses will hire fewer employees? They’ll offset government-mandated costs by suppressing wages? I’m shocked! Only on Beacon Hill.