One proposal, part of President Bush’s budget, would require detailed reporting of credit card transactions to the Internal Revenue Service. Another would require most owners of small businesses to report any payments above $600 to corporations, like Federal Express, for services.
The administration has proposed such measures before, but Congress has not gone along, mainly because lawmakers are not anxious to associate their names with tax proposals.
But one important change was added in closed-door budget negotiations in 2006 requiring federal, state and local agencies to withhold a percentage of payments from contractors — touching everything from the cleaning of schools to the paving of roads to supplying military uniforms.
The new rule does not take effect until 2011 but its passage lit a fire under small-business groups who say it is unfair and who are fighting for its repeal.
