President Obama May Tax Health Care Benefits
I wrote about this issue before but now the issue of the government taxing an employee’s health-care benefits is back on the table and so I find it proper to write about this issue once more.
The president is leaving the door open to tax the health-care benefits that employees pay for and receive through their employers. This was part of John McCain’s health-care plan and the president as a candidate vehemently opposed the idea. The president claimed that his plan was better and that he would not tax health-care benefits. The president went as far as calling McCain’s plan “radical” and also said the following:
McCain would make you pay taxes on your health benefits, taxing your health care for the first time ever, raising costs for employers who offer health care so your coverage could be reduced or dropped completely
And now he may implement that very same plan.
Most Americans have health-care and most Americans receive this health-care through their employees. Most Americans also pay a portion of those health-care benefits. If the president does adopt the McCain plan then on top of paying a portion of our health-care benefits we will be taxed so that we can help pay for the uninsured. This is a plan that the president opposed as a candidate.
By taxing these benefits working class Americans will be receiving a tax increase, thereby breaking the president’s promise that 95% of Americans will receive a reduction in taxes.
What a fraud!
America's Watchtower 
I’ve always loved the saying “If you rob Peter to pay Paul, you will always have the support of Paul”.
In this case, the logic (or lack thereof) is to tax people who already provide care for themselves, in order to more sustain those who either can’t or refuse to. So wait… we have problems with our healthcare system and the solution is to not only socialize it, but then ask the people who are not part of the problem to foot the bill for those who are?
And who supports this the most? The people who have no moral issue with their neighbor going off to work and through these labors pay for their wants… and the politicians who crave their votes.
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Somehow there are people in this country who believe it is acceptable to live of the fruits of someone else’s labor. And these people vote, what party do you think they are going to vote for? No need to answer that question, we all know the answer.
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The Government giveth before the Government taketh (or taxeth) away…
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In our case the government is taketh awayeth but has not giveth me anything.
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Dear federal government, do me a favor: don’t do me any favors.
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I surprised that this is getting the flak it is considering Ronald Reagan proposed this same tax in 1984 as a means to finance health care reform:
The Health Costs Containment Tax Act of 1983 is designed to encourage employers to provide an adequate level of health benefits to their employees, while eliminating the open-ended tax preference for health benefits over cash wages.
“Under current tax law an employer’s contribution to an employee’s health plan is not included in the employee’s gross income. This bill will limit tax-free health benefits paid by an employer to $175 per month for a family plan and $70 per month for individual coverage. These limits will be indexed to increase yearly in proportion to the Consumer Price Index. Employer contributions above these amounts will be included in the employee’s income and taxed (income and Social Security) accordingly. Thus, individuals can choose to purchase as much health insurance as they wish with after-tax dollars, but the tax laws will not subsidize the purchase of unlimited health insurance.”
http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1983/22883b.htm
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