Posted on 03/25/2010 6:09:58 AM PDT by AU72
A dire warning from Bay State medical-device companies that a new sales tax in the federal health-care law could force their plants - and thousands of jobs - out of the country has rattled Gov. Deval Patrick, a staunch backer of the law and pal President Obama.
“This bill is a jobs killer,” said Ernie Whiton, chief financial officer of Chelmsford’s Zoll Medical Corp., which employs about 650 people in Massachusetts. Many of those employees work in Zoll’s local manufacturing facility making heart defibrillators.
“We could be forced to (move) manufacturing overseas if we can’t pass along these costs to our customers,” said Whiton.
The threat - echoed by others in the critical Massachusetts industry - had the governor vowing to intervene to block the sales tax impact.
“I am obviously concerned about the medical device burden here on the commonwealth, which has a very robust industry around medical devices,” Patrick said yesterday.
He ticked off his past support for the life-sciences industry. But he added that “you better believe I will work to make modifications” if the bill is found to be an “impediment to that industry.”
Medical-device makers - part of the life-sciences sector that’s been one of only a few fields creating jobs during the recession - are warning that the new sales tax could cripple many companies, especially small firms with razor-thin profit margins.
Under the legislation signed by Obama, medical-device companies would be slapped with a sales tax of about 2.9 percent to raise about $2.2 billion a year to pay for the health-care overhaul. Under a companion “reconciliation” bill now being debated in the Senate, the tax is set at 2.3 percent and would start Jan. 1, 2013.
Most political observers expect the reconciliation bill to pass - with the 2.3 percent medical-devices tax. The tax exempts eyeglasses, contact lenses, hearing aids and all products generally found in drug stores, from bandages to toothbrushes.
But it hits more sophisticated medical instruments and equipment, a specialty of hundreds of firms in Massachusetts.
“They’re beating up on the guys doing the best to create jobs,” said Tom Taylor, chairman of the Massachusetts Medical Devices Industry Council and founder of Roush Life Sciences.
U.S. Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) is pressing for elimination of the proposed sales tax, as part of a larger, last-ditch effort by Republicans to stall specific aspects of the historic $940 billion health-care overhaul signed into law on Tuesday by Obama.
“With unemployment in my state near 10 percent, placing a tax on medical devices is the absolute last thing we should be doing right now,” said Brown in a statement, as he filed an amendment that would repeal the tax.
Despite his concerns, Patrick stood by health care reform yesterday, saying the law is A dire warning from Bay State medical-device companies that a new sales tax in the federal health-care law could force their plants - and thousands of jobs - out of the country has rattled Gov. Deval Patrick, a staunch backer of the law and pal President Obama.
“This bill is a jobs killer,” said Ernie Whiton, chief financial officer of Chelmsford’s Zoll Medical Corp., which employs about 650 people in Massachusetts. Many of those employees work in Zoll’s local manufacturing facility making heart defibrillators.
“We could be forced to (move) manufacturing overseas if we can’t pass along these costs to our customers,” said Whiton.
The threat - echoed by others in the critical Massachusetts industry - had the governor vowing to intervene to block the sales tax impact.
“I am obviously concerned about the medical device burden here on the commonwealth, which has a very robust industry around medical devices,” Patrick said yesterday.
He ticked off his past support for the life-sciences industry. But he added that “you better believe I will work to make modifications” if the bill is found to be an “impediment to that industry.”
Medical-device makers - part of the life-sciences sector that’s been one of only a few fields creating jobs during the recession - are warning that the new sales tax could cripple many companies, especially small firms with razor-thin profit margins.
Under the legislation signed by Obama, medical-device companies would be slapped with a sales tax of about 2.9 percent to raise about $2.2 billion a year to pay for the health-care overhaul. Under a companion “reconciliation” bill now being debated in the Senate, the tax is set at 2.3 percent and would start Jan. 1, 2013.
Most political observers expect the reconciliation bill to pass - with the 2.3 percent medical-devices tax. The tax exempts eyeglasses, contact lenses, hearing aids and all products generally found in drug stores, from bandages to toothbrushes.
But it hits more sophisticated medical instruments and equipment, a specialty of hundreds of firms in Massachusetts.
“They’re beating up on the guys doing the best to create jobs,” said Tom Taylor, chairman of the Massachusetts Medical Devices Industry Council and founder of Roush Life Sciences.
U.S. Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) is pressing for elimination of the proposed sales tax, as part of a larger, last-ditch effort by Republicans to stall specific aspects of the historic $940 billion health-care overhaul signed into law on Tuesday by Obama.
“With unemployment in my state near 10 percent, placing a tax on medical devices is the absolute last thing we should be doing right now,” said Brown in a statement, as he filed an amendment that would repeal the tax.
Despite his concerns, Patrick stood by health care reform yesterday, saying the law is “very good for the people of America and the people of the commonwealth.”
Good old ChiComo Quality Control....
So what do you know?
Nothing more needs to be said.
Every manufacturer in Massachusetts affected by this tax should pack up and move -- if not overseas, then at least to a state where the governor and/or attorney general have taken it upon themselves to file a suit in Federal court against ObamaCare.
Might?
Well, the Democrats are doing their best to close that gap, anyway.
nobama, patrick, fenty and so on...birds of a feather...feckless birds
“
“This bill is a jobs killer,” said Ernie Whiton, chief financial officer
of Chelmsford’s Zoll Medical Corp.,...
“
I don’t know if it is the same person, but there was an officer from
Zoll Medical that appeared on FOX making reasonable complaints about
the Obamacare bill.
(It may have been on Cavuto on FNC a couple of days ago.)
Why don't you tell us.......
Presumably Texas would allow them to do that.
I will discuss later when I am out of the office.
TWP: Thread Winning Post!
“...if we can’t pass along these costs to our customers,”
But, but Obama said only those making over $250,000.00 a year will pay the tax!
I’m pretty sure I know what you know, and maybe more about the specific medical industries being discussed here since I work for one of the companies based in MA). This is already causing massive layoffs at our company!
Just because you pay off the mafia doesn’t mean you like the mafia.
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