The former owner of a successful car wash franchise in Texas says he had to sell his business because of the Affordable Care Act's employer penalties.
"It was a going, thriving business about a couple years ago when we started to understand what would be the implications of ... the Affordable Care Act and digest how this was going to impact our business," Bill Lawrence told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
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Bubbles Hand Car Wash was launched in 1991 and eventually mushroomed into seven locations with 290 employees. But Lawrence couldn't afford to pay penalties imposed on businesses by the Affordable Care Act.
"It was going to cost us, whether we provided the health insurance for everyone or not or whether they went into the exchanges and we paid the penalty, it was going to cost us around $400,000 a year, and that represented 60, 80 percent of our net profit," he said.
The company was in the process of making its employees part-time when Lawrence sold the business.
"I would not venture into the business world again until something happens that changes the climate in this country and the attitude of government toward small business," Lawrence said.
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