On Obamacare, Taxes, and Urban Legends (The Facts Themselves Condemn Obama)

ATR ^ | 10/25/10 | Ryan Ellis

[Andrea19]

...There's no need to make up new tax hikes--the dozens of them in Obamacare are quite enough. This posting is to set the record straight on two urban legends we've seen a lot:

1. "There's a new 3.8 percent Medicare surtax on home sales." This refers to a new, 3.8 percent surtax on investment slated to begin in 2013. This will be assessed on taxable capital gains, dividends, interest, etc. in households making more than $250,000 per year.

   The reason this urban legend is misleading is because most home sales are excluded from capital gains taxation. If a married couple has owned and lived in their primary residence for at least 24 of the 60 months prior to sale, they can typically exclude up to $500,000 in capital gains from taxation.

   Certainly some home sales will face this surtax, but it's not every home sold by any stretch. It will in fact be a small fraction of all homes sold.

2. "All workers will have to pay taxes on their employer-provided health insurance benefits." This springs from an Obamacare provision which requires employers in 2011 (recently moved to 2012) to report the value of employer-provided health care on employee W-2 forms.

   There's no doubt that this is a setup for a future tax hike down the road. But it's inaccurate to call this a tax hike in and of itself. As it is, it's merely information reporting, and the JCT associated no higher tax revenues with it.

Read more: http://www.atr.org/obamacare-taxes-urban-legends-a5507#ixzz13PPQQR5N

[Andrea19]

We don't need "fake but accurate" sentiments; the actual tax hikes by our friend from Chicago, Mr. Obama, are enough to ruin the tax and spenders.

Help promote Conservative activism here & here & here & here

[GailA]

btt