A new report released by the Joint Economic Committee and authored by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) argues that the tax burden of President Obama’s health care law is far larger than previously acknowledged – and that extending the burden out beyond the current windows of analysis reveals a heavy increased tax burden on America’s middle class.
The report can be found here. In an op-ed DeMint wrote for Investor’s Business Daily, he explains the rationale behind the report:
You probably already know that ObamaCare is full of what Democrats these days call “revenue enhancements” — job-killing tax increases on everything they can think of to pay for their health care takeover.
What you might not know is that the largest tax increases in the ObamaCare legislation are not indexed for inflation.
For example, the “high-earners” surtax hits individuals who make more than $200,000, and couples who earn more than $250,000. People making that much will comprise about 3% of the country in 2013.
But as time goes by, and inflation drives up income, today’s “high-earner” threshold will “medium” earners and, eventually, “almost everyone” earners.
According to the nonpartisan Medicare actuary, by 2080, ObamaCare’s tax on high earners will hit 79% of American taxpayers.
The tax burden may be relatively light this year, at just $15 billion, but come 2035, that burden will be magnified more than 20-fold to $320 billion. Even if the economy in 2035 is not already crushed by the growing burden of old-age entitlements, Medicaid, and a bloated government sector consuming as much as a third of the entire economy, will it really be able to handle an additional $320 billion in new taxes – the equivalent of $3,290 for a family of four?
An additional chart is available here.
Benjamin Domenech is the founder and publisher of The Federalist and a senior fellow at The Heartland Institute.
