Posted on 01/19/2010 4:22:42 PM PST by U of IL Conservative
Americans for Tax Reform today challenged Massachusetts Senate candidate Martha Coakley to defend her support for a tax increase on families with special-needs children. Coakley has endorsed the Senate healthcare bill, which contains a new cap on flexible spending accounts (FSAs)--disproportionately raising taxes on these families.
Under current law, there is no legal cap on FSA contributions. Most people defer $10 or $20 per paycheck to pay for eyeglasses, co-payments, and non-prescription medication. Many families, however, defer thousands of dollars per year into FSAs to pay for special needs education on a pre-tax basis. The Senate healthcare bill’s $2500 FSA cap won’t affect typical families, but it will especially impact families with special-needs children.
“Martha Coakley supports this tax increase on special-needs kids because she only cares about, in her words, ‘getting taxes up,’ said ATR President Grover Norquist. “Maybe she should put her loyalty to Washington bureaucrats aside for the moment and stop to consider the pain she is causing for families with special-needs children.” ....
========> Check out full piece (from Thursday!) at ATR.org....
(Excerpt) Read more at atr.org ...
Despite how late it is (who knows? - Maybe this will be dragged out... Though hopefully Scott Brown will be declared the winner, later tonight!) - Could you please help propel this piece, so everyone has this information?
[There's a second pertinent one, that I also wanted to share; I'll publish it next, in a new thread.]
Thanks, and on to VICTORY tonight!!
this has always been a STUPID STUPID program!!!!!!!!!!!!
a HIDEOUS EXAMPLE OF BUREACRACY GONE AMOK
You put money aside, in tyhe governments hands, so that at the end of the year they can give it back to you IF YOU MEET their regulations and fll out minldess paperwork reporting what you purchased that ‘qualifies’ to the government
Why not just make the medical ‘qualified’ expenses deductable when you do your taxes? what... too easy? not enough bureacrats empoloed to oversee it?
YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE HECK YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!
An “HSA” is NOT, an “MSA” -— with an HSA you do NOT have to give the money back, there is no “use it or lose it” in the HSA PLAN!
It is a BRILLIANT idea and you need to study the issue a bit, before you spout off here.
Also, even the MSA makes sense, for those responsible enough to figure out how to use it!
The HSA attracts those of us who are self employed. I am 51 years old, and I carry a High Deductable health insurance plan. I can then put lots of money into my HSA every year, and use that money for the deductables and co-insurance, if needed.
My Health Insurance premium is about $102.00 a month. I carry a $5,000.00 deductable. It is the SMARTEST thing anyone can do.
I am a CFP
I am a Health Insurance Agent.
I am self employed.
I have an HSA.
I have a disabled Grand Daughter.
Dems who do not like HSA plans are scum.
You, on the other hand, I am hoping you are only misinformed!
probably, but i still dont like having the government tell you where to put your money, preventing your use of it, unless you spend it on what they 'approve'
Because she’s a Demmycrat?
FSAs are great, especially from a cash-flow standpoint. My wife has severe cardiopulmonary & other disorders (4 open-heart surgeries by the time she was 23) and I put over five grand in this year.
Actually, an HSA is BETTER than an IRA, you deduct 100% of what you contribute to it, and what you remove is TAX FREE if it is for a broad range of “health” expenses!
In a time of low interest rates the value may escape your attention. In a time of high interest rates, and iron enforcement of withholding rules, you can see the difference.
Right now it's not a hill of beans difference.
Self-employed people have a different formula to work with, but it amounts to the same thing. $3,500 untaxed and used throughout the year is worth more than $3,500 as a deduction at the end of the tax year.
You mean like insurance companies, right?
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