There's something I should mention here that relates to what you posted, and is also relevant to the discussion about employee benefits.
Employer-paid medical insurance is subject to special tax rules that apply to almost nothing else I've come across in 20+ years of managerial experience. It's the only substantial employer-paid benefit that is deductible for the employer as a business expense but is NOT subject to taxation for the employee as a benefit with a cash value. The only other thing that remotely comes close to this would be employer reimbursement of education expenses, and these are really only relevant to work-related education expenses.
So if I lease a company car for an employee, I can deduct it on my company's taxes but my employee has to report it as a taxable benefit. The same holds true if I buy a life insurance policy where the employee's family or estate is the beneficiary of the policy. These are TAXABLE benefits.
For some reason medical insurance is treated differently ... which distorts the entire market and is a major incentive for employers to offer this even if they offer no other benefits to their employees.
The other angle of this that pisses me off to no end is that this tax treatment does NOT apply to sole proprietorships where the owner of the business is the only insured person. So my competitors can deduct their medical insurance costs as business expenses, but I cannot. Count this as one more reason why I use contractors and part-time staff only.
On a side note, AOC, who i’m not a fan of by any stretch, gets a lot of blame for Amazon.
AOC had nothing to do with the Amazon debacle, despite what you might read about it here on FR. The deal was killed when two New York State legislators in that district who had previously supported the deal changed their tune under pressure from organized labor groups. That was a fatal blow to the deal because under the protocols of New York’s state tax incentive program, the support of the state legislators in the district where a potential project is located is one of the necessary elements of the tax incentive application process.
The other angle of this that pisses me off to no end is that this tax treatment does NOT apply to sole proprietorships where the owner of the business is the only insured person. So my competitors can deduct their medical insurance costs as business expenses, but I cannot.....I’m not trying to go too deep into this rabbit hole. Admittedly, you’re more versed in that stuff than I am. I’ve been fortunate that my jobs have provided it for me, but I still think it should be a decision between me and the insurance company, not thru my job.
But one thing I’d put out to you, or anyone else, if I’m not mistaken there’s a threshold about when an individual can deduct medical expenses, yes/no? And I believe it’s rather high.
Annddd, I believe it was none other than Pelosi and the Dem’s who pushed for the legislation taking away an individual/sole proprietors ability to get the tax benefits while giving it/maintaining it, exclusively to corporations.
As for AOC, I was unaware about the state legislator thing, but that was not something I read about and definitely not surprising. And I’m betting that an aspect of that, something we’ll never hear about was, all the patronage jobs they wanted for their sons/daughters/nieces/nephews/sisters/brothers/cousins/neighbors and their demand that certain businesses get certain work and certain contractors get certain contracts. Reminds me of the scene in, Back To School with Dangerfield, when he tells the class and Dr Barbay how business really works. Bezos probably says, I’m the richest guy on the planet, by 3x, and I could buy Queens, I don’t need this nonsense. Peace......