Posted on 06/19/2009 11:01:40 AM PDT by ClassicLiberal
House Democrats have lots of potential targets for higher taxes as they aim to expand health care coverage, from wealthy Americans and the nation's employers to anyone who pops the top on a soft drink.
Also under consideration are higher alcohol taxes, increases to the Medicare payroll tax and a value-added tax, a sort of national sales tax, of up to 1.5 percent or more.
The list of options being weighed by the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, and obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, aims to raise some $600 billion over 10 years to partially pay for President Barack Obama's goal of overhauling the nation's health care system to tame costs and cover the 50 million uninsured.
The final price tag for that effort could top $1 trillion, with cuts to Medicare and Medicaid covering the rest of the cost.
The tax options include:
-- Increasing the price of soda and other sugary drinks by 10 cents a can.
-- Applying a potential 2 percent income tax increase to single taxpayers earning more than $200,000 a year and households earning more than $250,000.
-- A new employer payroll tax could target 3 percent of employers' health care expenditures.
-- Taxing employer-provided health insurance benefits above certain levels -- a less likely option but one that still is in the running.
House Democrats planned to unveil a draft of their sweeping health care bill Friday. It would require all individuals to obtain health insurance and force employers to offer health care to their workers, with exemptions for small businesses. A new public health insurance plan, strongly opposed by Republicans, would compete with private companies within a new health care purchasing "exchange" where Americans could shop for coverage. Government subsidies would help the poor buy care.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
The Republicans need to exploit this for all they can. “Tax raising Democrats, Socialists”. That’s what they need to say. Where is the next leader of the GOP?
To the America I knew and fell in love with as a child: Bye bye beautiful.
Never forget that I will carry you in my heart forever and never stop looking for you and doing all I can do to find you again and bring you home.
[The Republicans need to exploit this for all they can.]
I think this monster will be on life support (along with cap and trade) if we can just stall for a couple months.
No one is even talking about how many millions will be made criminals who refuse to join this abomination.
“I can make a firm pledge,” he said in Dover, N.H., on Sept. 12. “Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.” - B Hussein Obama
Instead of taxing us several thousand dollars a year to fund a socialist system here, why can’t we just send the families that WANT socialism, to the socialist hole of their choice? I’d sponsor a family!
“If you make less than 150,000 a year your taxes will not be raised by one single dime!” Barack Hussein
Must be the dims theme song.
Cig taxes already went up, so that promise is already out the window.
Why don’t we just go to a single-payer “employer” system where the “employer” takes what “it” needs for health care, bailouts, handouts, freebees, and the like... and gives us what’s left. Like, money for a little bit of milk and bread. Just enough...
In order to diffuse the “gov’t healthcare will bankrupt us” argument, the liberals will have Obama’s plan “paid for” with cuts and tax increases.
You might not join, but you sure will contribute with your income come hell or high water.
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Democrats and Obama are going to lose in landslides in 2010 and 2012 if they implement these tax increases. Americans are pissed enough already.
Obama plainly said that he was not going to raise taxes on anyone making less than $200,000 a year. Voters may be stupid (obviously) but the don’t have that short of memories.
If they want to lower the income tax and raise the soda tax, I don’t have a problem with that.
Having said that, there’s no way they will pass the health care bill. They must do it ASAP or they’ll lose the momentum.
The health bill hasnt been passed yet and it is taken as a Fait Accompli.
Billions laid aside to produce a new Health Department .Billions to hire people who will tell us when we are supposed to die when they ration our health care.
And we watch it happening.
These dickhead liberals will all be run out of office in the next election. They know it! That’s why they are running this stuff through as fast as possible!
All it would take is gas prices to keep going up-thats something everybody understands.
2010 HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!
b...bb....but...but....but.....Obama promised we’d all be getting FREE healthcare....
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