Article

2009-05-12 Economy

Sugar Water tax to pay for National Health? $6 billion down $2.394 Trillion to go

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Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2009-05-12 13:12|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top

#1 Legalize and tax pt, then slap a huge tax on soda and Doritos. Huge windfall.

Posted by Jonathan 2009-05-12 14:03|| 2009-05-12 14:03|| Front Page Top

#2 POT. Need to get a new keyboard.

Posted by Jonathan 2009-05-12 14:04|| 2009-05-12 14:04|| Front Page Top

#3 Ima think that a tax on soda has about the same resonance for today's American as the tea tax had for his Colonial counterpart.

Posted by Grenter, Protector of the Geats 2009-05-12 14:04|| 2009-05-12 14:04|| Front Page Top

#4 Barry's midget governor buddy was pushing for one up here. Didn't go over too big.

Posted by tu3031 2009-05-12 14:09|| 2009-05-12 14:09|| Front Page Top

#5 I still insist on calling for a windfall profits tax on any politician's book deal. 99.999% seems about right...

Posted by tu3031 2009-05-12 14:12|| 2009-05-12 14:12|| Front Page Top

#6 Getting ready for heap big ~~tea~~ party.

By the way. Don't be surprised if this was conjured up as a slap at the tea party activities, all be it a indirect slap of the face by the politicians.

Posted by Wild Indian 2009-05-12 14:20|| 2009-05-12 14:20|| Front Page Top

#7 Along the lines of, "Those tea party yahoos are the kind of people who sit in front of the boob tube, gorging on sweet fizzy drinks and potato chips", Wild Indian? As compared to their august selves, who watch Masterpiece Theater (Did you see what they did with Austen's Pride and Prejudice my dear? Finally, someone has done it justice!) and BBC news, while sipping an insouciant little white and nibbling on crudites.

I think the Senate leaders have forgotten what their children and grandchildren consume by preference. This could prove very amusing indeed.

Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife 2009-05-12 16:04|| 2009-05-12 16:04|| Front Page Top

#8 But wait! There's more!

WASHINGTON The Senate's top tax writer said Tuesday he is considering limits on the tax-free status of job-based health insurance to help pay for President Barack Obama's plan to cover all Americans.

Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., described his idea as senators began to grapple with how to pay for the costs of the plan, which independent experts put at about $1.5 trillion over 10 years. There are no easy options.

The final package is likely to include a mix of tax increases and spending cuts. Among the possibilities: tax hikes on alcoholic beverages and sugary soft drinks, and restrictions on other health care related tax breaks, such as flexible spending accounts.

But some taxes don't seem to be on the table, such as a federal sales levy to pay for health care, or a new payroll tax.

On the controversial question of taxing health benefits, Baucus is staking out a position that could put him at odds with Obama.

The president adamantly opposed such taxes during the campaign, arguing they would undermine job-based coverage. Obama's aides now say he's open to considering suggestions from Congress, even if he criticized Republican presidential rival John McCain for proposing a sweeping version of it.

Baucus said he wants to readjust the tax break, not abolish it. "We are not going to repeal it," he said.

But Baucus suggested that the benefit could be limited by taxing health care provided to high-income individuals or by taxing the value of extravagant health insurance plans. Baucus did not specify at what income level the tax would kick in.

Employer-provided health insurance is considered part of workers' compensation, but unlike wages, it is not taxed. The foregone revenue to the federal government amounts to about $250 billion a year.

Proponents of repealing the benefit say it encourages lavish health insurance plans that only add to waste in the health care system. And they argue that the benefit is unfair, since self-employed people don't get as big a tax break for health care.

Many experts say that Congress won't be able to come up with the kind of money needed to provide coverage for all unless limitations on the health care tax break are part of the mix.

So, Senator, when are you going to propose that Congress junks their primo health care program and get's in the same boat with the rest of us?
I'll wait...

Posted by tu3031 2009-05-12 16:36|| 2009-05-12 16:36|| Front Page Top

#9 Something isn't adding up. $1.5 trillion over 10 years to have National Health?

Health Insurance Costs

By several measures, health care spending continues to rise at a rapid rate and forcing businesses and families to cut back on operations and household expenses respectively.

In 2008, total national health expenditures were expected to rise 6.9 percent -- two times the rate of inflation.1 Total spending was $2.4 TRILLION in 2007, or $7900 per person1. Total health care spending represented 17 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

U.S. health care spending is expected to increase at similar levels for the next decade reaching $4.3 TRILLION in 2017, or 20 percent of GDP.1

Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2009-05-12 17:06|| 2009-05-12 17:06|| Front Page Top

#10 numbers schmumbers. Facts have little or no place in the land of HopenChange. Details to be worked out. In the meantime. Obama saved 2.3 trillion jobs today.... a few ten thousands lost theirs, but the rest were saved...

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2009-05-12 19:26|| 2009-05-12 19:26|| Front Page Top

#11 Yokay, I'll bite, methought the MSM-Net repor this RECESSION + DEPRESSION 2 was going to end by this SUMMER 2009; + the BAMMER = US FDA wants to sink "CHEERIOS"???

Posted by JosephMendiola 2009-05-12 22:22|| 2009-05-12 22:22|| Front Page Top

23:43 Zorba
23:25 Barbara Skolaut
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23:12 trailing wife
23:11 Skunky Glins 5***
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23:01 illeagle
22:39 Skunky Glins 5***
22:23 Jumbo Slinerong5015
22:22 JosephMendiola
22:22 Zorba
22:17 JosephMendiola
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22:10 trailing wife
22:10 JosephMendiola
22:06 Rambler in Virginia
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21:56 trailing wife
21:55 Ming the Merciless
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21:46 Barbara Skolaut
21:43 Barbara Skolaut