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.”
