According to Americans for Tax Reform, Harry Reid included seven specific tax hikes that violate Obama’s pledge and collectively cost $81.8 billion. These include:
A $2.7 billion levy on indoor tanning salons that Reid imposed after ditching a plastic-surgery tax.
A $5 billion Medicine Cabinet Tax specifically permits insulin purchases but otherwise prohibits using money in Health Savings Accounts, Flexible Spending Accounts, or Health Reimbursement Accounts for non-prescription, over-the-counter medications.
A $15 billion individual mandate would force Americans to buy health insurance. In 2014, those without ‘qualifying’ government-approved coverage would pay $495 or 0.5 percent of Adjusted Gross Income, whichever is higher. In 2016, that rises to 2 percent of AGI, or approximately $640 today.
A $15.2 billion tax requires costs to reach 10 percent of AGI, up from 7.5 percent, before Americans may deduct itemized medical expenses.
A $28 billion tax would hit employers who do not provide health coverage to their payrolls of at least 50 employees. If only one worker qualifies for a health-care tax credit, the employer must pay a fine of $750 on all 50 staffers, not just the one tax-credited employee. For 50 staffers, this penalty equals $37,500 annually. Small-business owners who file personal returns and earn below $250,000 will suffer this tax themselves.
According to Deroy Murdock, Sen. Mike Crapo (R., Idaho) tried to enforce Obama’s pledge by deleting from Obamacare all taxes on families earning less than $250,000 and individuals making under $200,000. Every Republican supported Crapo’s amendment. All but five Democrats ganged up and killed it.”
Mr. Murdock continues his commentary on the Senate bill: “Despite this massive picking of citizens’ empty pockets, Obamacare still would leave 24 million Americans uninsured. Among them, Reid claimed Monday, ‘On average, an American dies from lack of health insurance every ten minutes.’ If true, 210,384 Americans will drop dead waiting until 2014 for the start of Obamacare’s benefits, such as they are. Why are profligate Democrats so desperate to do so little so slowly for so few? All this is possible thanks to the Senate’s Kremlinesque procedural vote last Sunday night/Monday morning at 1:08 a.m. Liberal Democrats once chanted, ‘The whole world is watching.’ Santa Harry and his snow-covered Democratic elves built a sleigh full of tax hikes while the whole world was sleeping.”
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