The House plans to tax millionaires in order to pay for the $1 Trillion needed (update: I’m hearing $1.5 Trillion now) over the next 10 years to order to pay for it. Bloomberg reports:
House Democrats plan to fund the broadest U.S. health-care expansion in four decades by increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans, imposing a surtax of 5.4 percent on couples with more than $1 million in income.
The legislation unveiled yesterday would place additional taxes on households with more than $350,000 a year in income and calls for further increases if the measure doesn’t hit a target for cost savings. The provisions are intended to raise $544 billion over 10 years.
You know I recognize that I’m not so great with math, but it seems as though this would still fall short. So it looks as though this will go further down the line. You may say, hey they can afford it! That is probably true, but is it right? Consider that those households that make $350,000 already have a 35% tax rate. That’s just federal income tax. This doesn’t include property taxes, FICA, state taxes, etc. Most people in this bracket are looking at least 50% of their income gone to Uncle Sam before they even receive it.
Does that seem far to you? To me it looks like government sanctioned stealing at worse, it is definitely wealth redistribution. At the very least it punishes success as the article in Bloomberg quotes Thomas Donohue, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce who issued a statement saying:
The intention of this plan is to tax high-income households, but the real victims would be America’s small business owners. Since when does our great free-market country punish success?
Not only that, but this 1,000+ page bill also issues a mandate on coverage:
The House is also proposing a mandate on Americans above a certain income level: People would be penalized as much as 2.5 percent of their income for failure to buy health insurance. Most employers would be required to insure their employees or pay a penalty equal to as much as 8 percent of their payroll.
Just curious. Do our lawmakers not think that this won’t have any kind of trickle down effect on the middle and lower class? Do they not believe this will effect smaller companies hiring?
Another classic example of our government causes problems, not solves them. If you don’t believe that, look to Tennessee’s TennCare plan back in the 1990s. This provides a model of what could happen on the national level with ObamaCare which will, if the Democrats get their way, provided on the backs of the “rich” who also employ the most people.
Yeah, makes a lot of sense, but then again this is our government at work. I’m just curious how many of those who will vote in favor of this mess will actually read the bill this time?
Update: The New York Post: top earners in New York are facing a 57% tax. A majority of their money going to government. That my wonderful readers is immoral.