The Baucus Bill, as you know, was passed out of committee recently. CNS News has a piece out looking at the new taxes and fees that are included in it. The bill is expected to cost $829 billion over ten years, “with $507 billion of that cost being covered by new federal taxes and fees:”
These new taxes and fees include:
— $201 billion in new taxes on high-premium health care plans.
— $83 billion in new taxes paid by workers who will receive less employer-sponsored coverage or lose that coverage altogether but will be compensated with higher wages or monetary benefits, which are taxable.
— $23 billion in penalty fees paid by employers who do not comply with the federal insurance mandate.
— $4 billion in penalty fees paid by individuals who don’t have health insurance.
— $16 billion in new income and Medicare payroll tax revenue due to changes in Medicare.
— $180 billion in other tax revenues items calculated by the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT).
According to the JCT, this $180 billion in new taxes would include: A new tax on prescription drug makers that would account for $22.2 billion over 10 years; a new tax on medical device manufacturers that would bring in $38.6 billion; and a new annual tax on insurance companies would net the government $60.4 billion.
Also, a provision that raises the threshold at which medical expenses become tax deductible, from 7.5 percent of income to 10 percent of income, would reportedly yield the government $15.2 billion in new revenue from sick and disabled Americans with high out-of-pocket medical costs.
It would also include $5.4 billion derived from changing the definition of a deductible medical expense for health savings accounts; $14.6 billion from limiting to $2,500 the tax-deductible amount in flexible spending arrangements between employers and employees; $17.1 billion in revenue from expanded requirements (and potential penalties) on corporate reporting of taxable payments to other parties; and $5.4 billion from sponsors of Medicare Part D plans who are no longer able to deduct subsidies paid by the government to those plans.
Just a reminder:
We get to pay all these new taxes and fees, listen to the Democrats tell us how we are not paying any new taxes or fees, plus we get to pay more for our health insurance premiums than we would if we did nothing to lower the costs of health insurance.
This is some good reform.
Hat Tip: Neal’s Nuze
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Wonder why the American people are less and less in favor of this plan? Even after all the free publicity the liberal press is giving it.
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