Some is true, some isn't
An interesting e-mail is floating around the internet claiming that, "Starting in 2011-next year-the W-2 tax form sent by your employer will be increased to show the value of whatever health insurance you are provided. It doesn't matter if you're retired. Your gross income WILL go up by the amount of insurance your employer paid for."
The St. Petersburg Times reports that the chain e-mail is correct that employers will be required to start listing the cost of insurance, but that will be for tax year 2011, and won't be reflected until 2012.
The Times also states that the amount will not be taxed due to current law excluding health insurance as taxable income, and that there is nothing in the new health care law that changes that.
Note: that's current law.
The Rest Of The Story
However, the Times did print what the vast majority of the media is ignoring.
The eighth paragraph (tucked-in halfway through the article), it's mentioned that "The new health insurance law will eventually penalize people who are not insured with a tax penalty. The W-2 reporting requirement will help the Internal Revenue Service verify that people have coverage, both for themselves and their dependents.
There's also a tax on the so-called "Cadillac" or "gold-plated" health insurance policies, which are policies that cost significantly more than the national average. The W-2 reporting will allow the IRS to more easily collect the tax. We should also emphasize that the Cadillac tax doesn't go into effect until 2018, and it will apply to health insurance plans that cost more than $10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for family coverage, with some exceptions for people in high-risk categories. Most people will not be affected by the tax; analysts expect it to hit fewer than 20 percent of all policies."
The initial e-mail very well was misleading, but it should be noted that for the first time in the history of the American Republic, the citizenry is being forced to buying a product or service at the risk of automatically being fined (found guilty?) by the federal government without so much as a trial.
I wonder if The Founding Parental Units of Undetermined Gender are pleased?
Comments
The "health care" monstrosity is unconstitutional and should be repealed.
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