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June 20, 2013

Politics

CBO: Obamacare levies $1 trillion in new taxes

BY: JOEL GEHRKE JULY 26, 2012 | 4:35 PM
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Photo - President Barack Obama (AP Photo)
President Barack Obama (AP Photo)
Topics: Beltway Confidential

President Obama’s health care law raises taxes by $1 trillion, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office.

The individual mandate — which the CBO calls a “penalty tax,” in apparent deference to Chief Justice John Roberts — will produce $55 billion in “penalty payments by uninsured individuals,” the CBO told House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, in a Tuesday letter. Of course, the framers of the law didn’t design the mandate as a tax, and so it produces less revenue than any other provision in the bill.

The “additional hospital insurance tax” is the largest tax increase in Obamacare, projected to bring in $318 billion in new revenues. According to the 2010 report from the Journal of Accountancy, this tax hits “high-income tax payers” — individuals making over $125,000 a year or households making over $250,000 a year.

The health care law gets another $216 billion from the “associated effects of coverage provisions on tax revenues,” while “reinsurance and risk adjustment collections” brings in another $184 billion.  Fees on certain manufacturers and insurers generate $165 billion.  Another $111 billion comes from the excise tax on high-premium insurance plans.

Obamacare also demands “penalty payments by employers” to the tune of $106 billion. “Other revenue provisions” bring in $87 billion, per CBO.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters yesterday that “the Congressional Budget Office confirmed once again that repealing the Affordable Care Act would increase the deficit.”

Shorter Carney: We spend a lot of money, but we raised taxes by even more.

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Author:

Joel Gehrke

Commentary Writer
The Washington Examiner
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