Posted on 03/15/2009 6:55:16 AM PDT by SonOfDarkSkies
One of President Barack Obama's leading economic advisers says the White House is opposed to taxing health insurance. But Christina Romer is not ruling it out.
She heads the Council of Economic Advisers and says the administration would not rule out taxing health benefits. The New York Times reported Sunday that the administration is considering such a move.
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If Obama likes taxes so much, I propose a punitive lawyer tax.
It will be interesting to see how much the congressional medical benefits will be valued at, so that our beloved representatives in Washington will feel our pain on this one.
Please tell me this is satire... Craziness.
NObama2012!
They’ve gotta figure out some way to keep those Japanese steaks flowing into the White House.
I may be wrong, but didn’t the unions or possibly the Obama campaign itself spread a (false) rumor during the election that McCain was proposing to tax health insurance benefits?
So it was a bad thing then, but of course since it’s coming from the Messiah now . . .
It’s the art of projecting. You can be assured the Demonrats are everything they accuse their opponents of being. They have lived on myth for far too long.
Make health-care impossible to afford for the lower to middle class (me)so we are forced to drop it.
McCain did indeed propose just that.
0bama came down hard on him for proposing it.
He was hammering McCain hard about it in one of the debates. His version of "Read my lips"?
Try taxing the medical profession and see what happens? You think its outrageous now, just wait and see how taxes help the economy if you do. SARC/ I went to the Dr. for a check up last week it was over $400. Went to the Dentist a few weeks ago, don’t even go there. What cost me $25 in 1960 now costs $300? What cost me $300 in 1984 now is $1050? WTF? For the same work? A small bridge work took 2 month’s worth of my retirement check for 2 hours in the chair. Now I’m beginning to wonder if socialized medical isn’t the best way to go. Yeah we have coverage, but it only covers about 1/3.
Wow. So in 24 hours, Obama says “the fundamentals of the economy are strong” and proposes taxing health benefits. I almost feel for John McCain.
Well, all those 95% of the people who were convinced Obama wasn’t going to raise their taxes because “He said so” will be surely awakened when they get their paycheck and A) They realize exactly how much their employer is paying for their healthcare and B) they are getting taxed on $100 a week more money.
for at least 2 months before the election, every single morning, obama ran on conservative talk radio WMAL, an ad that John McCain would tax health care benefits.
The irony
I expect to see Obama propose eliminating all deductions, except charitable deductions, for people earning over $250,000. In addition the cap on Social Security taxes will be eliminated as well as indexing of brackets. Finally, cap & trade taxes will be implemented as a huge revenue enhancing “hidden” tax. Expect extra taxes on cable, phone, power, gas and other consumer utility bills disguised as “user fees or investment fees”.
As these huge tax increases are levied on the productive sector of society there will be complications. The “rich” will either produce less or emigrate to a more hospitable country. With the tax levy insufficient to cover the now voracious appetite for social spending, the Administration will likely be forced to tax financial assets, perhaps a special intangible asset tax.
To date redistribution of “wealth” has been all about taking away income from those working hard to become wealthy and giving it to those who choose not to produce or take risk. The super wealthy have been relatively immune from this redistribution as their wealth is asset based, not income based. With significant financial assets, the Buffett, Heinz, Kennedy, Rockefeller, and other wealthy families are able to control their income streams in ways that avoid taxation. Buffett himself has remarked he pays less federal income taxes than his secretary.
Start taxing accumulated financial assets, as well as municipal bond interest, and the wealthy liberals will wake up quickly. Once government begins taking from them, instead of the entrepreneurial class trying to become wealthy, the super wealthy living off trust funds might begin to question the value of all of this government spending. As long as they can feel good about it but not pay for it, the existing Robin Hood government will continue.
All governments fail when they tax beyond ability to pay.
Something that BHO is not aware of it seems.
Tax health insurance. What a good idea! Now more people will be able to afford health insurance.
That was a terrible way to couch McCain’s proposal - in fact, as far as I can remember, it was the ONLY good policy change McCain actually proposed. I suppose he could be given credit for wanting to extend the Bush tax cuts but it is unknown whether he would’ve actually done that.
McCain had proposed taxing benefits while simultaneously giving an across-the-board tax credit for health insurance. This would’ve encouraged people to shop around for health insurance. Look around yourself - you might find that the exact same policy you have could be 1/3 the cost of your employer providing it because of the group insurance effect. As it stands people have zero motivation to shop around for the best price on health insurance, and this is what keeps the prices high.
Obama just straight up basically said he might tax benefits but not give any tax credit.
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