Baucus Plan Eviscerates Obama’s Tax Promise
Posted September 21st, 2009 at 2:55pm in Health Care 
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From the September 20th ABC News This Week interview between George Stephanopolous and President Barack Obama:
STEPHANOPOULOS: Probably the most definitive promise you made in the campaign is that no one in the middle class would get a tax increase on your watch.
OBAMA: Right.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Yet this week, Senator Rockefeller and several other Democrats say that this bill by Senator Baucus is a big middle class tax increase.
Do you agree and does that mean you can’t sign it?
…
OBAMA: What — what — if I — if I say that right now your premiums are going to be going up by 5 or 8 or 10 percent next year and you say well, that’s not a tax increase; but, on the other hand, if I say that I don’t want to have to pay for you not carrying coverage even after I give you tax credits that make it affordable, then…
STEPHANOPOULOS: I — I don’t think I’m making it up. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: Tax — “a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes.”
OBAMA: George, the fact that you looked up Merriam’s Dictionary, the definition of tax increase, indicates to me that you’re stretching a little bit right now. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have gone to the dictionary to check on the definition.
The Merriam Webster Dictionary is not the only document that identifies the Baucus bill mandates as a tax middle class tax increase. There is also the Baucus bill itself, whose text on page 29 reads:
Excise Tax. The consequence for not maintaining insurance would be an excise tax. If a taxpayer’s MAGI is between 100-300 percent of FPL, the excise tax for failing to obtain coverage for an individual in a taxpayer unit (either as a taxpayer or an individual claimed as a dependent) is $750 per year. However, the minimum penalty for the taxpayer unit is $1,500. If a taxpayer’s MAGI is above 300 percent of FPL the penalty for failing to obtain coverage for an individual in a taxpayer unit (either as a taxpayer or as an individual claimed as a dependent) is $950 year. However, the maximum penalty amount a family above 300 percent of FPL would pay is $3,800.
And who would be enforcing what President Obama insists is not a tax? Heritage’s health care team explains:
In order to enforce these provisions, the Baucus bill would require individuals, health insurers, employers, and government health agencies to report detailed health insurance information on all Americans to the IRS, adding significant administrative costs and reducing privacy protections. The IRS would also be required to report personal income data to state exchanges, insurance companies, and employers, because premium credits and out-of-pocket limits would depend on income.
And the individual mandate is not the only middle class tax hike in the bill:
[B]eginning in 2013, the bill would impose a new federal excise tax on high cost health insurance plans. The tax would be applied to health plans valued at $8,000 for single policies and $21,000 for family policies. Because not all workers in such plans are high income, many will likely be on the receiving end of a middle class income tax increase, which contradicts President Obama’s promise that “if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime.”
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6 Responses to “Baucus Plan Eviscerates Obama’s Tax Promise”
Bobbie Jay on September 21st, 2009 at 2:55pm said:
Obama paints pretty pictures and as we all know now, he speaks “just words,” His intent is the opposite of his “just words.”
marcia on September 21st, 2009 at 2:55pm said:
follow the yellow brick road….follow the yellow brick road……follow …follow…..follow….follow the yellow brick road
Bobbie Jay on September 21st, 2009 at 2:55pm said:
You “promised” heealthcare reform. NOT insurance mandates at our expense.Insurance has nothing to do with health care. Only health care costs.
Force of any kind, only builds resentment. And when it’s government whew. Freedom of choice, where the choice is mandated by the president., isn’t very dignified of freedom or choice. It takes away the opportunity/freedom to do for oneself.
Mr. President,
Irresponsible people pay a consequence that encourages responsibility. Being logical, the consequence would be to have the irresponsible pay their cost of their services provided to them. Especially when it comes to pregnancy as that is an act of choice.
Stop punishing the innocent and regulate the non-compliant to be responsible and accountable to deplete this “crisis.”
Government force is unconstitutional and unAmer I CAN.
For all those who think they CAN’T.
…corny, but what the heck, eh?
Bill San Antonio TX on September 21st, 2009 at 2:55pm said:
Make no mistake. The IRS will be used as a WMD – more than ever.
That being said, “Don’t you feel better knowing that the Honorable House Rep Charles Rangel of “D” New York is “at the helm”?
And, who was that fellah, what’s his name, in charge of Treasury?
All of us should be prepared to get used and abused with tax laws. Now, that’s change you CAN believe in.
audrey, arizona on September 21st, 2009 at 2:55pm said:
We need a pro-growth agenda that urges congress and the Obama administration to enact policies that bring tax rates in line with our global competitors. We need to keep chipping away at the deficit by taking steps to control wasteful government spending. See http://www.friendsoftheuschamber.com/issues/index.cfm?ID=104
P’d off in TEXAS on September 21st, 2009 at 2:55pm said:
Man… Y’all just read what is quoted here and pay attention to Obama’s advanced literary skills as they provoke the trust and admiration that is SO obviously deserved by this Man and his administration! ……STEPHANOPOULOS: Yet this week, Senator Rockefeller and several other Democrats say that this bill by Senator Baucus is a big middle class tax increase.
Do you agree and does that mean you can’t sign it?
…
OBAMA: What — what — if I — if I say that right now your premiums are going to be going up by 5 or 8 or 10 percent next year and you say well, that’s not a tax increase; but, on the other hand, if I say that I don’t want to have to pay for you not carrying coverage even after I give you tax credits that make it affordable, then…
Once again the BLUE TONGUE has SPOKEN, yet he refuses to listen to his OWN evasive rhetoric. Somehow his response was intended to belittle George STEPHANOPOULOS and make him stand down on THAT line of questioning. However the “Annointed” tongue can’t even make sense with his own words. Case in point is when he stutters and says that…”What — what — if I — if I say that right now your premiums are going to be going up by 5 or 8 or 10 percent next year”…right here he is “assuming” AND inserting an unknown and unsupported “talking point”. Now, whether the numbers he states EVER come to pass or not,is irrelevant,and he then uses those “numbers” to convey, and give some under”lieing” support,to the next lie out of his mouth! That is where he states that HE doesn’t want to HAVE to pay for ME not carrying MY OWN COVERAGE, even AFTER “HE” gives me ‘tax’ credits(?) to make IT affordable…WHAT? IF my coverage is GOING up some percentage point over the course of this NEXT year, then THAT MEANS that I already HAVE INSURANCE COVERAGE and don’t NEED ANY credit from HIM or his progressive Constitutional theives!!Thank you VERY much for stating so eloquently, Mr. Obama, just HOW ignorant and deceiptful you really are. I COULD NOT have proven that point better myself!! Why don’t you open up your cut and paste vocabulary now and let us all know just how far off the point Joe Wilson was when he yelled the “TRUTH” at your illconceived Joint Session of Congress! I realize that I’m NOT Bobert Gibbs, but I think that what you REALLY meant to say was that you want WE the People to pay for “Criminal Aliens” to receive health care; at a 5,8, or 10% tax hike on the middle class “Registered” American workers in this Nation! The facts I see between Obama’s talking points and deceptions is that if my employer lets me go because they can’t afford to pay the excise taxes levied on my “fringe benefit” package, then I will be forced to BUY INTO the Government run plan or pay further taxes, as a “PENALTY” for not buying my OWN policy; which I CAN no longer pay for because I have NO JOB!!!! Oh well, I guess the IRS will then seize my house and ANY savings, REAL or imaginary,give my “wealth” to either the Chinese or the Castro brothers,then kick me and my Family to the curb because we ONLY made $90 thousand and owed $86 thousand for cost of living!! One hell of a “Catch 22″ huh?