Democrats Want You to Take A Tax Hike for Government Health Care

House Democrats are at it again, proposing massive tax increases to pay for the government’s takeover of health care. In a not-so-brief 1,018 page bill, Democrats devise yet another set of tax hikes to be levied on Americans.

A report given by the House Republican Conference overviews the areas that will be hit the hardest by the new taxes:

Jobs:

The bill would impose a tax equal to 8 percent of firms’ total payroll costs if they cannot afford to purchase coverage for their employees—and, beginning in 2018, would also tax businesses whose employees decline employer-provided insurance and instead obtain coverage through the government-run Exchange. According to a model developed by Council of Economic Advisors Chair Christina Romer, the more than $300 billion in taxes on businesses raised as a result of this employer mandate would destroy 4.7 million jobs.

Small Business Owners:

 

The bill would impose new surtaxes on “high earning filers”—increasing tax rates to as much as 45 percent. As more than half of all individuals in the top tax bracket report significant business income, these tax increases would harm small business owners, potentially resulting in significant job losses.

 

Businesses Making Inadvertent Filing Errors:

The bill permits the imposition of excise taxes on businesses who do offer health coverage of up to $500,000 for inadvertent and unintentional deviations from the bill’s bureaucratic diktats.

Health Benefits:

The bill would impose a per capita tax on all health insurance policies—the first-ever tax on health care benefits—in order to finance a Comparative Effectiveness Research Trust Fund charged with compiling data that federal bureaucrats could use to ration access to health care treatments and services.

Individuals Who Cannot Afford Health Insurance:

The bill would impose a 2.5 percent tax—an increase from the initial discussion draft—on all individuals who do not obtain health coverage through their employer or do not purchase “bureaucrat-approved” insurance offered through a government-run Exchange.

Citizens in the middle and at both ends of the income spectrum would get hit hard by these tax hikes for government-run health care.  With a sputtering economy, and unemployment headed past 10 percent, squeezing businesses and individuals for more tax dollars to fund government programs will do little but bring us a longer and deeper recession.