Obamacare Reality Check: It Will Raise Taxes

Starting on page 197 of H.R. 3200 – one of the main health care reform bills circulating in Congress:

16 ‘‘SEC. 59C. SURCHARGE ON HIGH INCOME INDIVIDUALS.

17 ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—In the case of a taxpayer

18 other than a corporation, there is hereby imposed (in addi

19 tion to any other tax imposed by this subtitle) a tax equal

20 to—

21 ‘‘(1) 1 percent of so much of the modified ad

22 justed gross income of the taxpayer as exceeds

23 $350,000 but does not exceed $500,000,

 

1 ‘‘(2) 1.5 percent of so much of the modified ad

2 justed gross income of the taxpayer as exceeds

3 $500,000 but does not exceed $1,000,000, and

4 ‘‘(3) 5.4 percent of so much of the modified ad

5 justed gross income of the taxpayer as exceeds

6 $1,000,000.

H.R. 3200, the health care bill passed in three House committees, will increase taxes on Americans earning over $350,000 to help pay for health care reform. Tax hikes, even on the highly productive, will reduce their incentive to work hard which will make the rest of us worse off.

Over the next several paragraphs the bill explains that if the new reforms save enough money (in one case, over $525,000,000,000 over 10 years) then the taxes will be reduced. In 1967, the House Ways and Means Committee predicted that Medicare would cost about $12 billion in 1990. Actual spending was $110 billion. If this bill ends up spending like Medicare, these tax increases and others will be permanent.