Congress is groping for ways to finance this thing and every day
they come up with a swell new idea. One day it is a tax on soda
pop, the next day it is botox, next a VAT tax on everyone, and
then a “surtax on the rich,” and so on.
They don’t want to limit the exclusion for high cost insurance
coverage because Labor likes that high-cost insurance coverage.
Politico reports that, “White House officials
are embracing a plan to tax “gold-plated, Cadillac” insurance
policies, giving momentum to an idea that is receiving bipartisan
consideration on Capitol Hill.”
This is the nifty new idea Sen. John Kerrey came up with –
instead of making insurance coverage taxable income for the
people who get it, we’ll tax the insurance company itself if they
sell a “gold-plated health plan.”
Apparently, no one stops to think, “let’s see now, if we tax the
insurance company, where will it get the money to pay it? Oh, by
raising the cost of the coverage to the employer! But if the
employer pays more for the coverage where will it get the money
from? Oh, by lowering workers’ wages! So, who ends up paying for
it after all this smoke and mirrors? Who else? The very same
workers we were trying to help.”
