March 8, 2012
More On THAT Travesty
Yeah, that travesty we call Obamacare.
Despite all the stuff we read about how this state’s fighting Obamacare in the courts, that state’s doing this, the other state’s doing something else, it appears that the miscarriage of government authority is still a done deal, one which, like everything else the politicians want to foist on us that most of us aren’t up for, has been gradually eased out of the spotlight the last couple of years until now it’s apparently “yesterday’s news”, its various aspects scheduled to go into effect as scheduled.
In Heritage’s The Foundry yesterday, Alyene Senger featured a column titled The 10 Terrible Provisions of Obamacare You May Not Have Heard Of.
These are just the first four (the rest are in the column linked immediately above):
It increases taxes on families earning over $250,000. In 2013, the employee portion of the Medicare payroll tax will increase from 1.45 percent to 2.35 percent for families earning $250,000 or more and individuals earning $200,000 or more. The income threshold is not indexed for inflation, so more and more middle-income families will be hit by the tax hike as time goes on.
It adds a new tax to investment income. The increased payroll tax rate is also applied to high-earners’ investment income for the first time beginning in 2013. It will hit capital gains, dividends, rents, and royalties, discouraging investment and harming economic growth.
It puts new limitations on those with HSAs and FSAs. Starting in 2012, Obamacare restricts the products that consumers may purchase with a Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Savings Account (FSA)—such as over-the-counter medications—and increases the penalty for such non-qualified uses of HSAs. It also limits the amount taxpayers may deposit into an FSA to $2,500 a year in 2013.
It adds a new tax on those who purchase medical devices. In 2013, a 2.3 percent excise tax will be applied to medical devices, causing a $28.5 billion tax hike on medical device manufacturers. The industry will pay for this tax by reducing jobs and passing additional costs on to consumers.
It has been my understanding since becoming an American going on four (4) decades ago that we, the people run this country and the politicians are supposed to be working for us. It is also my understanding that we Americans are generally not stupid, certainly not dumb enough to want to be subjected to anything like the Patient “Protection” and “Affordable” Care Act. Having said that, I wonder how it is that this country’s fallen so far that we seem to have to stomach such insubordinate malfeasance on the part of those we have elected to govern our country, the will of the people notwithstanding….
http://hardastarboard.mu.nu/wp-trackback.php?p=1939
March 11th, 2012 at 5:12 am
That higher tax on rents will devastate a lot of folks.
I rent out a house to my cousin and her family. My cousin is disabled (cardiac issues) and her husband, a building contractor, has barely any work since the housing market tanked. They can barely make the rent now!
Meanwhile, real estate taxes keep climbing, climbing, climbing!
March 12th, 2012 at 7:20 am
Always On Watch
It really is hard to figure out what the governments (U.S., States, Cities) are even thinking!
These people manage money like spoiled adolescent drunks who’ve hit the lottery rather than like responsible adults qualified to govern their respective political subdivisions, screw up and then demand more from the taxpayer.
The fact that so much more taxation, etc is concealed in Obamacare indicates that if nothing else, the politicians know that what they’re doing is wrong and is against the will of the people — so they make some pitiful and contemptible efforts to conceal it, sort of like children trying to hide something they broke (when caught, they say, “it broke” as though they’d had nothing to do with it).
March 14th, 2012 at 1:18 pm
Seems your government has caught a case of the “Gordon Browns” with stealth tax. Under the Blair/Brown regime British taxes rose almost 15%, the Obama administration seems to have the same ambition. More tax, more bureaucrats, more laws, more regulations …
March 15th, 2012 at 6:47 am
Gray Monk
More tax, more bureaucrats, more laws, more regulations …
That sums things up perfectly, and of course, talk about understated cost projections, another skill of our “esteemed” political left:
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Obamacare-costs-double-CBO/2012/03/14/id/432506
It’s amazing how these people seem to be able to run their private business concerns efficiently, but when they’re working with the taxpayer’s money (and the taxpayers’ childrens’ future tax money, etc, the game changes…
March 17th, 2012 at 7:13 pm
you have a great blog here! would you like to make some invite posts on my blog?
March 19th, 2012 at 8:50 am
Eric
Thanks for coming by, and for your invite.
I “perused” your blog and find your opinions interesting and worthy of comment, though they are mostly a little to the left of our own positions here at Hard Astarboard (just a little).
I will visit again and perhaps comment, as you are welcome to do the same here, and if some debate ensues, that’s the way we like it.
April 6th, 2012 at 4:00 pm
הובלת דירה קטנה…
… הובלות דירות - כיום הובלות דירות השוואת מחירים מגוון מאוד רחב של חברות הובלת דירה קטנה, ללקוחות הובלת דירה קטנה. תקופת הקיץ היא תקופת השי…