Obamacare: Seven New Taxes on Citizens Earning Less than $250,000
While we were all debating the cost to our liberty due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), we were ignoring the cost to our pockets. If there ever was a reason for bipartisan rage about this law, it should be on the twenty - yes, twenty - hidden new taxes of this law. Making matters even more relevant is that seven of these taxes are levied on all citizens regardless of income. Hence, Mr. Obama’s promise not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $250,000 is just another falsehood associated with this legislation.
The first, and best known, of these seven taxes that will hit all Americans as a result of Obamacare is the Individual Mandate Tax (no longer concealed as a penalty). This provision will require a couple to pay the higher of a base tax of $1,360 per year, or 2.5% of adjusted growth income starting with lower base tax and rising to this level by 2016. Individuals will see a base tax of $695 and families a base tax of $2,085 per year by 2016.Next up is the Medicine Cabinet Tax that took effect in 2011. This tax prohibits reimbursement of expenses for over-the-counter medicine, with the lone exception of insulin, from an employee’s pre-tax dollar funded Health Saving Account (HSA), Flexible Spending Account (FSA) or Health Reimbursement Account (HRA). This provision hurts middle class earners particularly hard since they earn enough to actually pay federal taxes, but not enough to make this restriction negligible.
The Flexible Spending Account (FSA) Cap, which will begin in 2013, is perhaps the most hurtful provision to the middle class. This part of the law imposes a cap of $2,500 per year (which is now unlimited) on the amount of pre-tax dollars that could be deposited into these accounts. Why is this particularly hurtful to the middle class? It is because funds in these accounts may be used to pay for special needs education for special needs children in the United States. Tuition rates for this type of special education can easily exceed $14,000 per year and the use of pre-tax dollars has helped many middle income families.
Another direct hit to the middle class is the Medical Itemized Deduction Hurdle which is currently 7.5% of adjusted gross income. This is the hurdle that must be met before medical expenses over that hurdle can be taken as a deduction on federal income taxes. Obamacare raises this hurdle to 10% of adjusted gross income beginning in 2013. Consider the middle class family with $80,000 of adjusted gross income and $8,000 of medical expenses. Currently, that family can get some relief from being able to take a $2,000 deduction (7.5% X $80,000 = $6,000; $8,000 –$6,000 = $2,000). An increase to 10% would eliminate the deduction in this example and if that family was paying a 25% federal tax rate, the real cost of that lost deduction would be $500.
The fifth new tax on the middle class, and all Americans, is the Health Savings Account (HSA) Withdrawal Tax Hike. This provision increases the additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10% currently to 20% beginning in 2013. This provision actually sets these accounts apart from Investment Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and other tax advantaged accounts, all of which remain with a 10% early withdrawal tax.
Another regressive tax that is part of this law began in 2010 and that is the Indoor Tanning Services Tax, which places a 10% excise tax on people using tanning salons. While some may regard this as insignificant, the broader implication is that this act of taxation is a blatant move by the federal government to control the behavior of citizens. This provision, as does the Individual Mandate and as Justice Kennedy said during the oral arguments on the constitutionality of the law said, “….fundamentally changes the relationship between the federal government and the citizen.”
The seventh new tax that directly impacts the middle class, along with all citizens, is the Excise Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans or the “Cadillac” Health Insurance Plan Tax. These are plans that provide extensive coverage and that are generally fully paid for, or largely paid for, by employers. This provision imposes a 40% excise tax on the employer-paid premium on taxpayers who are covered by such plans, beginning in 2018. The reason it begins in 2018 is because most unionized workers are covered by plans that fall under this definition and a deferral was made to spare union members from this tax for at least a period of time.
There are thirteen other taxes that apply to businesses and that apply to high income (over $250,000 per year) households. While these additional provisions will not impact the middle class directly, they can have serious indirect consequences for middle and low income earners. Beginning in 2014, the Employer Mandate Tax will impose an annual non-deductible tax on employers with more than 50 employees who do not provide health insurance for their employees.
The impact of this provision on low and middle income earners, and really all working Americans, is that employers will be confronted with three choices. The first is provide some level of health insurance, as many do today, and there would be no impact on employees. The second choice is to pay the penalty, which would most likely be less expensive than providing health insurance, and force employees to seek their own health insurance or purchase it through federal government controlled state exchanges. Studies have estimated that 20 million Americans will lose their employee funded health insurance as a result of this provision and employers electing this option. The third choice is for employers to lay off employees, or not hire additional employees, because Obamacare forces them to either provide health insurance or pay the new tax.
Another new tax, the Tax on Medical Device Manufacturers that begins in 2013, places a 2.3% excise tax on all items retailing for more than $100. This provision will not only drive up the cost of various medical devices ranging from mobility assistance devices to personal testing supplies, but will also impact an industry that employs 360,000 people in 6,000 plants across our country. This tax, while not a direct tax, would have significant negative impact on the middle class.
The Surtax on Investment Income for households earning $250,000 and more, beginning in 2013, will raise the Capital Gains Tax from 15% to 23.8% on investment income for these households and will raise Taxes on Dividends from 15% to 43.4% for the same households. Aside from the impact on retired citizens dependent on dividends, this provision will pull income from the private economy. In addition, the tax rate on Other Investment Income earned by Subchapter S Corporation (which many small business are organized as, allowing the owners to claim all business income as personal income) will rise from 35% to 43.4%. This part of the provision would place additional pressure on small businesses resulting in more layoffs and less hiring, impacting all American workers.
All but one of the remaining new taxes in Obamacare are directed at health industry businesses and while they will not impact middle income families directly, the additional costs will most likely be passed on to the public. The last new tax is really interesting, it is a tax on certain biofuels!
These are the facts. It does not matter if you support Mr. Obama and his new law or if you oppose it, the new taxes on the middle class or real and all Americans should understand their impact on their families and the economy. Citizens, regardless of political beliefs, should recognize that Obamacare was passed with almost no sunlight shined on these middle class tax increases and need to understand that the new law was sold with the promise that there would be no new middle class taxes. This is not partisan, it is simply the reality of politics.
For more information, read ATR's analysis of the Affordable Care Act's taxes here.
'Jim', a Police Officer Warns of an "Event" in October, 2012: Alex Jones...
Most of us informed and awake folks aren’t interested in trying to predict specific dates. That’s an art best left to Nostradamus. That said, highly respected truth tellers James Turk and John Williams have both tied dates to predictions. In an interview with James Turk he told me that he thinks we will see $400 silver and $8,000 gold some time between 2013-2015. And John Williams firmly believes the die has been cast for hyperinflation in the United States, likely beginning in 2014.
Over the past 48 hours we’ve stumbled across three separate pieces of information, all predicting essentially the exact same thing regarding a fall 2012 economic collapse. Serendipity or coincidence, it’s information I want to pass on. As always, discussion is welcomed below.
The first warning is from a St. Louis based police officer who called into the Alex Jones radio show on Sunday, June 24th. The second warning comes our way via the Silver Doctors. And the third came today from unflappable Director of UBS Floor Operations Art Cashin. All three warnings are presented here for your benefit and consideration:
The first warning came our way via the Sunday broadcast of the Alex Jones radio show. Jones announced that he only wanted to take calls from members of the military or police. A man identifying himself as a police officer named ‘Jim’ called in to report some startling information.
“We have been told that in October we need to be prepared for an event that will require us to use air and ground support, in conjunction with the military here.”
During the call Jim comes across as passionate, sincere and very shaken by the information he tries to share. After the commercial break, Jim gets choked up as he tries to convey his appreciation for what Alex Jones has tried to do in terms of waking people up in the effort to save the Republic from the clutches of the forces seeking to destroy it. Now, nearly in tears, Jim concludes by saying “This country’s dead Alex. It’s gone” before unexpectedly hanging up.
Here’s the entire call including the head of the show with the date of the broadcast for posterity’s sake. I edited out the commercial break, and posted this call on my backup You Tube channel SGTreport, so please subscribe in case my main channel SGTbull07 is ever disabled or removed by You Tube.
Warning 2 from Silver Doctors, on Monday:
LEAP/2020 has issued a RED ALERT for the Western banking system, stating that Europe’s hour of payment has arrived, and compares the next two months to the Israelites circling Jericho for 7 days prior to blasting the trumpets. LEAP/2020′s red alert states the Western banking system’s trumpet blast will occur in September or October.The third warning comes by way of Art Cashin and Zero Hedge on Tuesday morning:
The seven blasts of the trumpets of Jericho marking the September October 2012 period will cause the “Dollar Wall’s” last sections and the walls which have protected the world as we know it since 1945 to collapse. The shock of the autumn 2008 will seem like a small summer storm compared to what will affect planet in several months.
While Europe is dominating headlines this week, UBS’ Art Cashin suggests “mark your calendar and cross your fingers” as he notes the disproportionate prevalence of events that occur in September. Focusing on The Economist’s Greg Ip’s recent post on a possible seasonal pattern in banking crises, via this recent Reinhart & Rogoff extension paper by Laeven and Valencia, he notes: “The frequency with which the world goes to hell in September seems hardly random.” Unfortunately the authors provide no explanation for this beyond observing, “An interesting pattern emerges: banking crises tend to start in the second half of the year, with large September and December effects.”
No one can possibly know exactly when the death of the Western fiat banking system will occur. We just know that it will collapse – it cannot be stopped. And increasingly it looks like it will happen sooner rather than later.
This is not fear porn. It’s the reality of the dire times we now find ourselves in. Take heed, and prepare the best you can.
We are all in this mess together.
Breaking News from Western Journalism
Jun 30, 2012 02:33 pm | Floyd and Mary Beth Brown
When
the Wall Street Journal’s Kimberly Strassel exposed the fact that the
Obama campaign is keeping an enemies list and spending vital resources
attacking Romney supporters, many liberals gasped in surprise. Richard
Nixon and Senator Joseph McCarthy kept lists of… Continue to Post
Jun 30, 2012 02:31 pm | Jeff Bipes
What
do we know and not know about Barrack Hussein Obama, aka Barry Soetoro?
We DO NOT know precisely where he was born, although that really doesn’t
matter. We DO know that he is ineligible to be President of the… Continue to Post
Jun 30, 2012 02:26 pm | Daniel Noe
Jun 30, 2012 02:22 pm | Joe Miller
Thursday’s
shocking Obamacare decision caused me to reminisce about my time on the
federal bench ten years ago. When I was a United States Magistrate
Judge, I took the same oath of office that every federal judge and
justice in… Continue to Post
Jun 30, 2012 02:21 pm | Daniel Noe
Jun 30, 2012 02:15 pm | Shawn Paul
Poor
liberal arguments, paired with the lewd behavior of some attendees at a
White House event, have recently shone some light on the truth of the
issue of same-sex marriage and the LGBT movement.
There have been some pretty bold… Continue to Post
Jun 30, 2012 02:08 pm | Kevin "Coach" Collins
In the midst of a terrible month, Barack Obama
has finally gotten some good news. As a furtive Muslim, his dream has
always been to further the spread of a worldwide Caliphate that would
administer Sharia law to a world… Continue to Post
Jun 30, 2012 02:07 pm | Daniel Noe
Jun 30, 2012 02:01 pm | B. Christopher Agee
In
the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on ObamaCare, talking
heads on both sides of the debate agree that the decision will likely
rally conservative voters while doing little to excite liberals.
While that’s unarguably bad news for… Continue to Post
Jun 30, 2012 01:41 pm | Daniel Noe
Jun 30, 2012 01:35 pm | Breaking News
By
ruling that ObamaCare is constitutional, the Supreme Court has set in
motion a slew of tax hikes. Well, someone has to pay for it. For rich
folks, looming big is the 3.8% Medicare surtax on investment income, and
the… Continue to Post
Jun 30, 2012 12:46 pm | Breaking News
In
the midst of a fiery floor debate over contempt proceedings for
Attorney General Eric Holder, House Oversight and Government Reform
Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) quietly dropped a bombshell letter into
the Congressional Record.
The May 24 letter to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking… Continue to Post
Jun 30, 2012 12:39 pm | Breaking News
The
former Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator who once
said that his regulatory enforcement philosophy was to “crucify” and
“make an example of” non-compliant companies has taken a job with the
Sierra Club.
Al Armendariz quickly resigned from the EPA after his… Continue to Post
Jun 30, 2012 12:30 pm | Breaking News
NEW
YORK (Official Wire) — Mitt Romney’s campaign has launched a new attack
ad against President Barack Obama that uses Hillary Rodham Clinton’s
words against the president.
The Romney ad is running in Ohio and several other battleground states.
It’s… Continue to Post
Jun 30, 2012 12:23 pm | Breaking News
JACKSON,
Miss. (Official Wire) — Mississippi could soon become the only state
without an abortion clinic because of a new law taking effect this
weekend. Critics say the law would force women to drive hours across the
state line to… Continue to Post
Jun 30, 2012 12:00 pm | Breaking News
Did
Charles Rangel win his primary race on Tuesday night or not?
Incredibly, it still isn’t clear. A slew of snafus, mysterious missing
precincts, and a failure to count some absentee and provisional ballots
leaves the issue in doubt.
Politico:
In an interview,… Continue to Post
Jun 30, 2012 11:57 am | Breaking News
The
World Council for Nature (WCFN) and Save the Eagles International
(STEI) object to misrepresentations spread by the wind industry, in
particular those appearing in the CBC article of June 27th on the
Campobello Project (1). It is indeed incorrect… Continue to Post
Jun 30, 2012 11:47 am | Daniel Noe
Ron Paul: The only way to Repeal Obamacare
The Supreme Court let us down again. They let Obamacare stand. I was not surprised.
I wish I had been wrong, but the courts have a terrible record when it comes to protecting our Liberties. Upholding Obamacare was just one more time they failed.
Now, there is only one way to repeal Obamacare and reclaim our freedom. We must speak with our voice in the Congress and repeal it. And, we must do it next year.
But unless we get more game changers inside Washington, we are going to have trouble voting enough Obamacare supporters out of office.
We have to take it right to the big statist politicians. And I know a candidate who can beat an entrenched incumbent.
That candidate is Kurt Bills.
Kurt is running for Senate in Minnesota and, with the help of our friends, is the official endorsed Republican to take on big government Amy Klobuchar.
Kurt is just like you and me: a regular guy (and an economics teacher using my book “End the Fed” as classroom textbook) who got fed up and ran for office. And he did a dynamite job in the Minnesota state legislature.
Now he needs our help.
Today marks the end of the fundraising quarter, and Kurt needs every dollar he can get to show a strong campaign finance report.
The special interests, Wall Street tycoons and military industrial complex all have his opponent well heeled, but Kurt has the issues and a grassroots army of Liberty supporters on his side and is campaigning hard.
Please consider chipping in $50, $100, $250, $1,000 or even the maximum amount allowable of $2,500 right now.
I have already sent him the maximum contribution from Liberty PAC, and hopefully you can do even more.
Believe me, your investment will be well worth it. Kurt will:
*** Repeal Obamacare and restore our healthcare freedom.
*** Stand up to
the overseas adventurism, stop the nation building and keep our troops out of harms way.
***
Introduce legislation like my Restore America plan that actually cuts spending and balances the budget.
*** Fight for a real and thorough audit of the Federal Reserve.
We
need Kurt Bills in the United States Senate. If we
come together and support him now, we can put Washington on notice that
we are here, Kurt Bills is one of our champions, and we can win in
November.
In Liberty,
Ron Paul
P.S. The Establishment will be keeping an eye on our efforts!
Your contribution of $50, $100, $250, $1,000 or even the maximum allowable $2,500 will immediately register on Kurt's website and show the big spenders, the special interests and the statists that we mean business!
Ron Paul to Speak at LPAC
It seems each summer flies by faster than the last.
So the 2012 Liberty Political Action Conference (LPAC), which takes place September 13-15 in Chantilly, Virginia, is quickly approaching!
I wanted to make you aware of two important updates regarding our Conference.
1.) I’m proud to announce that Congressman Ron Paul is confirmed to speak!
For over 30 years, Congressman Paul has stood up in defense of the Constitution and individual freedom, and his founding of C4L in 2008 ensured a continuing grassroots impact on the political landscape by liberty-minded activists.
Congressman Paul joins Senator Rand Paul, Senator Mike Lee, Joel Salatin, Jack Hunter, Mike Church, and many more as an LPAC 2012 speaker.
2.) Our Early Bird rate, which discounts tickets to all three days of main stage activities to only $85 (and includes our grassroots training), was scheduled to expire July 1.
But to help as many people as possible attend LPAC 2012, we’re extending the time to take advantage of this rate.
The Early Bird discount will now be available through July 8!
We won’t be able to stretch our deadline again. So once this deal is gone, it’s gone!
Although we’ve extended our Early Bird rate, don’t wait until the last minute to save your spot.
LPAC 2012 is guaranteed to be an exciting, motivating, and encouraging weekend for all those desiring to reclaim the Republic and restore the Constitution.
And our grassroots training will equip you with the tools you need to turn your passion into effective action.
Visit www.LPAC.com to learn more about our Conference activities and reserve your ticket(s) today.
If you have any questions, be sure to contact us at lpac@campaignforliberty.com.
In Liberty,
Matt Hawes
Vice President
P.S. I’m excited to announce that Congressman Ron Paul is confirmed to speak at LPAC 2012!
And I also wanted to let you know that our Early Bird rate on LPAC 2012 tickets, which includes access to all three days of main Conference activities and our grassroots training for just $85, has been extended until July 8.
Even though our deadline to obtain our Early Bird discount has been extended, don’t wait until the last minute to save your spot.
Visit www.LPAC.com to learn more about our Conference activities and reserve your ticket(s) today!
And be sure to contact us at lpac@campaignforliberty.com with any questions.
The Conservative Byte
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| June 30, 2012 |
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