Recovery Robbers

Forbes ^ | 6/29/2009 | Janet Novack and Brian Wingfield

[bruinbirdman]

Here are some of the moves Congress and the White House are considering that could sap business profits, at least in the short term. Democrats argue many of these steps are needed to protect the country's long-term economic health.

TAX THE ...

Rich. Democrats plan to allow most Bush-era tax cuts for couples earning more than $250,000 to expire at the end of 2010--a $615 billion tax hike over ten years that boosts the top rate on salary and interest from 35% to 39.6% and the top rate on capital gains and dividends from 15% to 20%. (Two provisions limiting deductions and exemptions for the better off would return, making the true top rate 40.8%.) The Administration wants to extract another $267 billion from the same folks by further limiting the value of their charitable and other deductions to help pay for expanded health insurance.

The well insured. While Congress is still haggling over how to pay for the expansion of health insurance, one possibility is tax on the value of employer-paid health insurance worth over a certain amount. The moral argument: The exclusion, which costs the Treasury $226 billion a year, leads workers to prefer rich insurance packages that make them insensitive to wasteful medical costs. The practical one: Congress needs your dough.

Multinationals. The Administration has proposed raising $210 billion over ten years with slew of changes in tax rules for overseas income that it bills as an effort to close loopholes and discourage jobs from going offshore. Multinationals insist it would have the opposite job effect. If Congress needs the cash badly enough, it might buy into at least some of the changes.

Oil companies. Obama has proposed raising $31.5 billion more from the oil and natural gas industry over ten years by closing "loopholes" and imposing

[Psycho_Bunny]

"The moral argument: The exclusion, which costs the Treasury $226 billion a year, leads workers to prefer rich insurance packages that make them insensitive to wasteful medical costs."

These two alleged writers are complete and total morons.