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Biden’s Public Option Would Mean Massive Tax Hikes
Wall Street Journal ^ | October 19, 2020 | Lanhee J. Chen and Daniel L. Heil

Posted on 10/20/2020 5:14:33 AM PDT by karpov

Joe Biden has promised that no families with incomes under $400,000 will see tax increases if he is elected president. But that’s a promise he won’t be able to keep if he gets his way and Congress creates a government-run health insurance plan—a public option.

Mr. Biden and other supporters of the public option argue it would be a relatively modest change to the nation’s health-care system because, unlike single-payer proposals, it would add nothing to federal deficits. But once enrollees and health-care providers start applying political pressure to keep premiums low, taxpayers would be on the hook. Medicare’s legislative history is filled with broken promises to restrain spending.

If Congress follows its past behavior, the result will be a costly public option. With our co-author Tom Church, we estimate that a politically realistic public option would increase 10-year federal deficits by almost $800 billion. Over the long term, it would become the third-largest government program—accounting for one-eighth of future spending excluding interest on the debt. Keeping a public option deficit-neutral would likely require a broad-based tax increase that would add thousands of dollars to a typical middle-income family’s tax bill. Without the tax hike, the public option alone would increase the federal debt by more than 30% of gross domestic product by 2050.

These costs couldn’t come at a worse time. The federal debt has risen above 100% of GDP 10 years sooner than expected, and the Congressional Budget Office now projects debt to reach 195% by 2050. The higher debt will mean fewer economic opportunities for future generations. The CBO predicts that the economy will be about 5% smaller in 2050 than it would be if policy makers reduced the debt to 2019 levels. Further additions to the debt—such as another Covid relief package—would intensify these economic harms.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: biden; bidenomics; publicoption
Ungated. The underlying report is The Budget and Tax Effects of a Federal Public Option After COVID-19.
1 posted on 10/20/2020 5:14:33 AM PDT by karpov
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To: karpov

At least Biden is consistent...he lies about everything. You can always tell when Biden is lying...his lips are moving. Pathetic moron.


2 posted on 10/20/2020 5:20:07 AM PDT by GoldenPup
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To: karpov

damn paywall


3 posted on 10/20/2020 5:24:35 AM PDT by God luvs America (63.5 million pay no income tax and vote for DemoKrats...)
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To: God luvs America

Did you try the link I provided in my comment?


4 posted on 10/20/2020 5:30:39 AM PDT by karpov
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To: karpov

And massive declines in insurance payments.


5 posted on 10/20/2020 5:34:02 AM PDT by babble-on
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To: karpov

And they didn’t even consider the cost of giving Medicare away to illegals.


6 posted on 10/20/2020 5:58:39 AM PDT by Religion and Politics (It is time for more than one denomination of "Political Correctness".)
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To: GoldenPup

All Rats lie to gain power. When they say, “We’ll tax only the rich,” what they think is “We’ll tax everyone, including the poor.”


7 posted on 10/20/2020 6:16:52 AM PDT by Theophilous Meatyard III
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To: karpov

thanks- i actually hit the second one but bypassed the first one...appreciate it.


8 posted on 10/20/2020 7:58:33 AM PDT by God luvs America (63.5 million pay no income tax and vote for DemoKrats...)
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