Senate Democrats are revisiting proposals to raise taxes on high-income people to help pay for an overhaul of the health-care system.More at the link.
The main proposal getting renewed attention is one by President Barack Obama that would limit the federal tax deductions for higher-income families for mortgage interest and other widely claimed purposes, said two senior Senate Democratic aides.
The development reflects a hardening of partisan lines in the effort to forge a health-care bill. Raising taxes on the wealthy was regarded as a virtual deal-breaker for Senate Republicans engaged in negotiations over the spring and summer. So Senate Democrats steered clear of such an approach.
"Bluntly...the idea of getting Republicans on board [a health-care overhaul] is becoming much more fantastical, so some ideas that were jettisoned for that reason are coming back," said one aide.
Targeting the rich also conflicted with Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus's hopes of taxing the most costly employer-based health plans as a way to reduce overall health-care spending. But many Democrats are losing hope that Mr. Baucus's bipartisan negotiations will produce a deal, so they are beginning to plan for a bill crafted by Democrats. A spokeswoman for Mr. Baucus (D., Mont.) said his committee is still pursuing a bipartisan bill.
Placing much of the burden of a health-care overhaul on higher-income earners is likely to face political hurdles of its own, particularly among moderate Democrats. And limiting the value of deductions for higher-income earners could run into opposition with some interest groups, such as the real-estate industry.
At the video President Obama announces his intentions to make "people like me" pay a little more - which is the opening for the Dems to push for tax hikes on those making $250,000 annually. Also at the video is the debate between Representatives Marsha Blackburn and Adam Schiff. Recall, Schiff is a hard-left Democratic who is backing ObamaCare (he deeply alienated his constituents during his August 11 town hall event).
Interestingly, we now have news that the White House is now drafting the health bill itself, so folks can bet that an increase is in the works.
2 comments:
At some point even those people who call themselves democrats will note that you could tax everyone who makes > than 250K at 100 percent and it would be a drop in the bucket. That is unless you begin to think that anyone who holds a job is rich and yo tax the Hell out of them.
Class warfare seems to work in some cases, but it has been used so much that the number who fall for it continues to go down. Does anyone actually believe that the dems are going to tax a large portion of their contributors? If you do I have a bridge for sale.
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