The Taxman vs. Your Health, Your Wallet

The Associated Press is reporting that President Obama is now not opposed to taxing health care benefits. He had campaigned against that idea.

That could take another $250 billion out of the taxpayers' pockets. Plus, do you think all that extra cash will have no effect? Basic economics suggests all that money may just mean fueling health care cost inflation.

And I don't know about you, but the prospect of increasing our already high health care costs is not a pleasant thought. If my rough calculations are right, that'll turn out to be about $1,000 per person. Tell me, family of six, where are you going to cut $6,000 out of your budget or even half that?  

On the other side of the equation, what about the 50 million who are supposed to benefit from being newly insured? With Medicare and Social Security on the way to going belly up, the wisdom of another government program seems at best questionable.

The Beatles may have been on the right track with "taxman" written by George Harrison: "If you drive a car, I'll tax the street; if you try to sit, I'll tax your seat; if you get too cold, I'll tax the heat; if you take a walk, I'll tax your feet. Taxman!"

The part Harrison didn't get right was: "Let me tell you how it will be -- there's one for you, nineteen for me." That's only about five percent for the government -- much, much less than what most of us pay. Financial columnist Scott Burns pointed out in an article that the real tax rate is around 40%. Guess Harrison was just employing a wee bit of understated English humor.