Say Anything Blog

I’m in awe.  I mean, why didn’t anyone think of this before?

June 7 (Bloomberg)—President Barack Obama wants Congress to consider taxing the wealthy instead of workers to pay for a health-care overhaul, as House Democrats discuss a plan to require health insurance for most Americans.

The Obama administration stepped up efforts to influence health-care legislation today as advisers David Axelrod and Austan Goolsbee appeared on television talk shows to discuss the issue.

The president is trying to avoid broad-based levies such as a Senate proposal to tax some employer-provided health benefits Axelrod said. Instead he is urging lawmakers to reconsider limiting all tax deductions for Americans in the highest tax brackets.

“He made a very strong case for the proposal that he put on the table, which was to cap deductions for high-income Americans, and he urged them to go back and look at that,” Axelrod said on the CNN’s “State of the Union.” Goolsbee, appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” said Obama is “mindful” about how “ordinary Americans are able to foot the bills” and never proposed taxing employee benefits.

The problem is that it won’t just be “the rich” paying for nationalized health care even if they’re the only ones directly taxed for it.  The money taken from “the rich” in taxation won’t be spent on goods or services provided by people who aren’t “the rich.”  It’s money that won’t create jobs in the economy.  It’s money that won’t be invested into new businesses, or research and development.

It’s money that will be taken out of our economy, and that hurts all of us.

Oh, and by the way, under Obama’s plan if you try to be independent and self-insure you’re going to be punished with taxes.

An outline of the plan obtained by Bloomberg News would require Americans to have insurance with some exceptions.

It would probably exempt those who can prove they can’t find an affordable policy. There could be a tax penalty for those with adequate financial resources who don’t elect to get insurance, according to the outline.

Down with independence!  Up with government dependence!