Community | July 09, 2009 | 19 comments

Dems Look At Taxing The Rich For Health Care

source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31830409/ns/politics-capitol_hill/

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Crenshaw_Brothers
WASHINGTON - House Democrats working on President Barack Obama's goal of health legislation are narrowing in on an income tax surcharge on the highest-paid wage earners to help subsidize insurance for the 50 million people who lack it.

Pushing to complete a comprehensive health care overhaul plan by Friday and bring it up for committee votes next week, House Democrats abandoned earlier money-raising proposals, including a payroll tax. They met behind closed doors Thursday to fine-tune the details.

"I promised the president that we would have legislation out of the House before we went on an August break. That is still my goal," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday.

As discussed in the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, the surtax would apply to individuals with adjusted gross income of more than $200,000 and couples over $250,000, according to officials involved in the discussion. Most spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., a member of the panel, said the panel is looking at a surtax of around 3.5 percent on income above those amounts. Other members suggested it would be closer to 3 percent.

In addition, key lawmakers are expected to call for a tax or fee equal to a percentage of a worker's salary on employers who do not offer health benefits.

Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has said his committee needs to come up with $600 billion in new taxes to deliver on Obama's goal of sweeping changes to the nation's health care system to bring down costs and cover the 50 million uninsured. Hundreds of billions of dollars more would come from cuts to Medicare and Medicaid to pay for legislation expected to cost around $1 trillion over 10 years.


Lawmakers cautioned that no final decisions have been made. Smaller tax options remained possibilities, depending on the overall cost of the legislation, including a tax on sugared soft drinks and ending a tax break that drug companies receive for advertising.

The action in the House stood in contrast to the Senate, where Democrats edged away from their goal of passing health care legislation by early August amid heightening partisan controversy over tax increases and a proposed new government role in providing insurance to consumers.
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19 comments // Dems Look At Taxing The Rich For Health Care

  • Leonidis
  • Dillos
  • neocongo
    • 0
      neocongo  

    • The rich make their millions off the backs of the working class and poor. It's about time they started picking up a fair share of their health tab.

    • 2 years ago
  • montesooma
    • 0
      montesooma  
    • neocongo:

      typical of Neocongo to have it all backwards, he buys into this phony class warfare that is supposed to make you overlook the real culprit...Government.
      Fact is the poor make their livings off of "the rich" aka businesses.
      Most of "the rich" were once "the poor" but thanks to capitalism they were able to succeed at business and hire more of "the poor" who thanks to capitalism will try to become "the rich" and hire more of "the poor" etc.
      Now thanks to govnment and small minds of people like neo --this impetus to succeed will be removed from the economy and the economy will continue to fail until only the elite (progressives in govnment) will be the masters of our lives, money, and health therby eliminating individual freedom. Thanks neoCon.

    • 2 years ago
  • neocongo
  • mgerlach22
    • 0
      mgerlach22  
    • neocongo:

      I say we tax every working American at the same rate....say 25%. That's only fair, right? Why do the poor get taxed less? Fo they work harder for their money? Why do the rich have to subsidize everything in this country...especially gov't handouts for people that are too lazy to go out and earn it for themselves?

    • 2 years ago
  • wirehedd
    • 0
      wirehedd  
    • neocongo:

      You got that right Neo.

      Don't worry about the clowns with 3 chins and never worked a day in their useless lives who want to bitch about the dynastic families who control the majority of the economy having supposedly been the "poor". It's that manner of stupidity and fantasy that are the cause of the a lot of the problems we have.

      The people who know what it's like to work for a living know better.

      When the Bushes and their scummy ilk start paying THEIR fair share of taxes we won't have any economic problems anymore.
      Single payer health care would have been a done deal when HillaryCare was proposed except it was killed by douchebag conservatives and right wing retards who wouldn't know what a day of work is if it jumped up and kicked them in their soft little teeth.

    • 2 years ago
  • montesooma
    • 0
      montesooma  
    • neocongo:

      another koolaid drinking ignorant liberal who fell for the phony class envy ploy, it works on those who don't any better. Dont you see numbnuts - the socailists wanted you to blame capitalism and those who succeed in it.
      It is a divide and conquer strategy that will leave them in control of it all.
      Don't be so gullible!

    • 2 years ago
  • wirehedd
    • 0
      wirehedd  
    • neocongo:

      the only numbnuts I see is a three chinned reichwinger who has nothing but ignorant and disproven rhetoric and a pissy attitiude to anything that might require him to show some responsibility for the country and it's people but argues with the same idiotic crap every other dittohead dipshit pukes up whenever they don't want to face facts and reality.

      grow up and get off the Hannity/Limbaugh homoporn love fest.

    • 2 years ago
  • mgerlach22
    • 0
      mgerlach22  
    • neocongo:

      wow wirehedd...

      you're responses speak volumes of your intelligence. the government should follow your advice to create this fictional utopia all the liberals are chasing. you have such wonderful ideas. keep up the good posting.

    • 2 years ago
  • wirehedd
  • Robroy1
    • 0
      Robroy1  

    • Gee what a novel idea, tax the people who have money not the ones that don't. These people are Genius no doubt, but I really think they should tax the people who have no money because there are so many more of them even though they can't afford any more taxes there are still more of them, Wait lets just Tax the Bush family and thier cronies on all the money they stold from the Coffers of America, this would end all our troubles, and some justice would be served.

    • 2 years ago
  • barbie_chola89
    • 0
      barbie_chola89  

    • i agree that it would be a great idea! i was thinking that all the working class and the poor are like the wealthys' slaves (like in Greco-Roman times!). We work for them and save our money to "live" like them. We are in a new and more intelligent time. they should be a little okay with the idea as long as their they still get to live in their masion-palace homes and drive their mod cars>

    • 2 years ago
  • div
    • 0
      div  

    • I don't know how it works in the US, but it's likely to be the same as here in Canada... The rich here in Canada, especially large corporations, use ridiculous amounts of tax loopholes. They should be taxed to the same relative amounts as lay-people.

    • 2 years ago
  • good_stuff
    • 0
      good_stuff  

    • I like the idea of taxing employers who don't offer it best, but that might kill jobs.

      I still want to know more abou the swiss bank account owners that live in the US and hide thier money there so as to not pay taxes. How does this work? Does one have to earn the money out of the country, save is Switzerland, and then brin back just enough to live on per year and try to avoid the 200k mark?

    • 2 years ago
  • Crenshaw_Brothers
  • Crenshaw_Brothers
  • JohnA
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