Monday, January 4, 2010

Health Care Reform=Mandates and New Taxes

Happy New Year, or should I say welcome to the year of many new taxes?

Let's start with so-called health care reform. Whether or not the final, reconciled House-Senate bill includes a tax on so-called "Cadillac health plans" or a tax on so-called "wealthy individuals" (who make $250K or more, which is hardly wealthy), the Medicare portion of your Social Security taxes is set to leap. If you work for yourself, the Medicare portion goes to 3.8 percent (up from 2.9); if you employ others, your employer share of Medicare taxes rises to 2.45 percent from 1.35.

Starting in 2014, if you don't have a qualifying health insurance plan (the individual mandate that candidate Obama opposed but now embraces as president), you will be assessed a fine of up to $1,485.

Now, here's a real job killer: If you own a company that doesn't offer health insurance, and if even one of your employees qualifies for a government health care subsidy, you'll have to pay a $750 assessment to the government for every worker on your payroll.

And this is just the beginning. Blogger Wintery Knight has more details.