The healthcare reform bill moving through Congress would impose $400 billion in “new taxes and fees” on nearly 90 percent of Americans — most of who earn $200,000 or less, argues former John McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Holtz-Eakin, an economist, said the tax is hidden cleverly in the legislation.
“It might not appear that way at first, because the dollars are collected via a 40 percent tax on sales by insurers of ‘Cadillac’ policies, fees on health insurers, drug companies and device manufacturers, and an assortment of odds and ends,” writes Holtz-Eakin.
“But the economics are clear. These costs will be passed on to consumers by either directly raising insurance premiums, or by fueling higher health-care costs that inevitably lead to higher premiums. Consumers will pay the excise tax on high-cost plans.”
Holtz-Eakin cites data from The Joint Committee on Taxation indicates that 87 percent of the burden would fall on Americans making less than $200,000, and more than half on those earning under $100,000.
“Industry fees are even worse because Democrats chose to make these fees nondeductible,” Holtz-Eakin writes.
“According to my analysis, premiums will rise by as much as $200 billion over the next 10 years—and 90 percent will again fall on the middle class.”
Others agree, even on the other side of the political spectrum.
Former Vermont governor Howard Dean, a doctor, writes in The Washington Post that the controversial “bill is not reform.”
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