Why would the government TAX health benfits just to pay them out again through entitlement programs?
Oh wait... now I get it.
Posted on 03/14/2009 3:29:23 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Obama administration is signaling to Congress that the president could support taxing some employee health benefits, as several influential lawmakers and many economists favor, to help pay for an overhaul of the health care system.
The proposal is politically dicey for President Obama, however, since it is similar to one he denounced in the presidential campaign as "the largest middle-class tax increase in history." Most Americans with insurance get it from their employers, and taxing the benefit is strongly opposed by union leaders and some businesses.
In millions of dollars worth of television advertisements last fall, Obama criticized his Republican rival for the presidency, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, for proposing to tax employer-provided health benefits. The benefits have long been tax-free, regardless of how generous they are or how much an employee earns. The attacks did not note that McCain, in exchange, wanted to give all families a tax credit to subsidize the purchase of coverage.
At the time, even some Obama supporters said privately that he might come to regret his position if he won the election; in effect, they said, he was potentially giving up a meritorious and lucrative option to help finance his ambitious health care agenda to reduce medical costs and expand coverage to the 46 million uninsured Americans. Now that Obama has begun the health debate, several advisers say that while he will not propose changing the tax-free status of employee health benefits, neither will he oppose it if Congress does so.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
As long as the family doesn't make $250,000 I feel safe from taxation.
We were promised. ; )
Why would the government TAX health benfits just to pay them out again through entitlement programs?
Oh wait... now I get it.
Here’s where BO bites many of his liberal backers in the ass.
They won’t care, they are the ones having the rest of us pay for their health care anyway.
That McCain sure knows how to run a lousy campaign.
Worst ever in American history.
I remember throwing things at the TV when this clown was shamelesssly demagoguing this issue.
Change! Change we can BELIEVE in!
That was then and this is now. LOL!
And what about the many economists that dont favor it?
This will push more employers to drop plans, increasing the uninsured, thus increasing the costs of his socialized plan while removing his proposed funding mechanism. F ing Brilliant!
All that has to be done is to tax cigarettes to make up the difference.
See how easy that is?
Is Obama considering taxing the part of the premium the employer pays for health insurance, the actual benefits the employee receives as reimbursements, or both?
Doesn't really matter. The media will never cover them, interview them or admit they exist. Nothing like bias by omission.
We must clean out the sewer that is Washington DC.
It reads to me that he wants to tax the amount that the company pays in your faver as income.
We WANTS cost to go up to the public...
He WANTS chaos..
He WANTS people to be screaming for the Feds to rescue them...
This is his little perfect National Health Care storm....
Remember....never let a good crisis go to waste.
If you’re not outraged, you’re probably a Marxist.
Most people, even if thought that they would be tax on health benefits, didn't understand that the cost will include your cost as well as the cost that the employer pays. It will amount to a tidy sum in most cases even for crappy coverage.
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