Posted on 03/02/2010 7:38:13 AM PST by bs9021
One-Twoing Working Poor
Tilla Bradley, March 1, 2010
The Cato Institute hosted a discussion of the current Senate Healthcare bill entitled, “Will the Senate Healthcare Bill Keep the Poor Poor?” to consider the unintended effects in the proposed piece of legislation. The Cato Institute’s Michael Cannon answers the question with a variety of well researched and thorough graphs and pie charts that answer that question with an unequivocal “Yes!”
Most of this research was based on calculating tax rates and lost subsidies. By requiring the general population to purchase health coverage, the government is effectively levying a new tax on its citizens. For instance, the current Senate bill requires a single adult at the poverty line pay nearly 2% of his adjusted gross income in this new “mandate tax.” As income rises, the tax goes from 2% to max out at 9.8%.
In addition to the additional burden of a tax, there is the ever looming possibility that by showing initiative and working hard a worker could lose the subsidies that the government uses to make up the difference between what the taxpayer pays toward healthcare and the actual cost of the policy. By losing the subsidy, the taxpayer would be charged hundreds or thousands of dollars, effectively negating the effect of the increased income....
(Excerpt) Read more at academia.org ...
we can’t have those uncivilised rabble getting rich now, can we?
Good post. So the affect on the poor will be that they don’t buy health insurance due to cost, pay the penalty which is less, and if they do get sick insurance companies will have to cover them. Multiply this out hundreds of thousands of times and you’ve got a fiscal disaster in addition to providing a huge incentive not to strive to make more income. Brilliant!
But perhaps they've at least gotten something right. People “at the poverty line” should pay taxes!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.