Posted on 10/27/2010 8:24:14 AM PDT by stan_sipple
According to the Kaiser Foundation's Health Reform Subsidy Calculator (via IBD), a 62-year-old in a high-cost area earning $46,000 a year without health insurance is entitled to a $7,836 government tax credit. Leaving aside how our strapped government can afford that, here's what's interesting: if the same person makes a mistake and earns an extra $22 in income, he loses the entire $7,836 credit. (The cutoff, according to Kaiser, is between $46,021 and $46,022.) That's a 35,618% marginal tax rate. Indeed, the problem is so severe that our 62-year-old subject will have more take-home pay if he earns $46,000 than if he earns $55,000. And even at lower income levels, there is as much as a 16% surcharge on income at the margin.
It's been trendy to sneer at those who label the Obama administration's policies as socialism, but even under socialism, the government doesn't punish you and make you worse off for working more. This is just public policy malpractice.
Everybody knows that.
Tax credits are pork. They are a bad idea for individuals or corporations.
Tax credits == unequal protection under the law.
Well, about time someone paid me to be Poor!
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