New year + new health care law = new tax rates

pioneer press ^ | 12-31-12 | Tony Pugh

[TurboZamboni]

WASHINGTON -- The tax man is coming in 2013. And he's wearing surgical scrubs and has a stethoscope around his neck.

Five new tax increases take effect Jan. 1 to help pay for the nation's health care overhaul.

New provisions of the Affordable Care Act require affluent taxpayers to pay more for Medicare and, for the first time, have their investment income subject to Medicare taxes as well. Also, people who use flexible spending accounts for health care expenses will pay higher taxes. And taxpayers who spend a lot out of pocket on their health care will find it harder to deduct those expenses from their taxable income, raising their tax bill.

Individual consumers won't be the only ones paying higher taxes. Importers and manufacturers of certain medical devices will face a 2.3 percent excise tax on U.S. sales in 2013.

The new measures are slated to raise $24.2 billion next year and more than $258 billion through the year 2019, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Here's a look at the changes:

[TurboZamboni]

Cap on FSA contributions Deductions for medical expenses Medicare hospital tax hike Investment income surtax Medical device excise tax

We’re gifted with a healthcare plan that we’re forced to purchase and fined if we don’t, which purportedly covers at least 10 million more people without adding a single doctor but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents, written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn’t understand it, passed by a Congress that didn’t read it but exempted themselves from it, and signed by a President who smokes with funding administered by a Treasury chief who didn’t pay his taxes, for which we will be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect, by a government that has already bankrupted Social Security and Medicare, all to be overseen by a Surgeon General who is obese and finally, financed by a country that’s broke.

[goldstategop]

Obama voters decided to keep it.

Now we’ll see if they really like it.

[GailA]

[ronnie raygun]

The only satisfaction we can get out of all of this is that we get to see the idiots who voted for this a##clown and his posse enjoy the reaping that they have sown. Enjoy! stupidity has it’s rewards.

[muawiyah]

Add to all that the fact that we are no healthier, nor happier. The Obamugabe regime is going to leave behind a destructive track record that will never be forgotten.

[The Great RJ]

Wait until next year when millions of Americans who have lost their employer sponsored health plans or can no longer afford them find they will will have extra “taxes” to pay to the IRS. The Health Care Exchanges that are to form the last resort for individuals who do not have employer sponsored plans, cannot afford private insurance, but who make too much to qualify for Medicaid will be no where to be seen. I expect utter chaos.