John McCain health care tax, please help me make this printable poster go viral

[Joesunionreview]

I have been in and out of the top 10 on google for "John McCain health plan" for a few months, now since the awareness is being spread, and a lot of money is being spent by the McCain camp to drive us down, my article's telling the truth behind this "hidden" tax are getting muddled, so in honor of Joe Biden bringing this up during the debates, i have created a poster that I hope will take over as the top hit for 'google's images" for John McCain Health Care, it is a huge issue, I know I will be paying more taxes if his plan goes through.

I have tried to explain this in words and it just seems that a lot of us need pictures, so feel free to print and spread the word.

Here's the image
http://tinyurl.com/4da9lx">



Cross posted at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/3/4225/79661/705/618642">DailyKos

[Princess Turandot]

1. FYI I think your 'formula' might be incorrect..

I believe that he is proposing a tax credit, which reduces your tax liability, not your taxable income.

Assuming that you could no longer take an itemized deduction for your health care costs - I don't know for sure that is the case but it would be consistent - your taxable income would be increased by the value of your current deduction. That impact gets a little tricky to estimate because deductions may be subject depending on your income to a percentage of income adjustment. Assuming that you are not subject to that offset, the impact would be:

$10,000 @ 28%= ($2,800) in new taxes before the credit due to loss of itemized deduction.
($2,800) - $2,500 = ($300) Net tax increase after credit.

The greater problem with his plan is that I think he wants to eliminate the employers' deduction for buying insurance for their employees. That will in all likelihood cause them to drop the coverage where it isn't currently mandated in some way, such as by a union contract. If they drop an individual's coverage and that person now has to buy their own policy, they're screwn, since right now their employer based insurance has no impact on their taxes or spending.

If they pay $10,000 as you do, they will suddenly find themselves $ 7,500 out of pocket, which many people cannot afford. His answer to that issue is that they can shop around due to reduced insurance regulations and buy a cheapo policy from, say, an insurance company in Idaho. The only problem is, an insurer in Idaho is going to charge based upon the cost of health services where the person resides, so it's not reasonable to assume such great reductions. In addition, allowing insurance companies to operate in all states is going to make regulating them for things like claims nonpayment, extremely complicated.

So, you may want to research the mechanics of this a bit more. I haven't made a detail study of this, so I cannot say that I'm 100% right in my understanding of it.

[Joesunionreview]

2. Thank you Princess Turandot

Joe runs and smashes his calculator. This is why construction workers aren't accountants.

Ok, so then if I was to pay 14,000 out of pocket, which is the actual price of my health care, the tax burden at 28% would be $3920, then I would deduct the $2500. Then I would have to pay $1450 more in tax.

Grrrrrr, back to paint shop pro.

Double Grrrr: I called my accountant, I had to leave a message

[Joesunionreview]

3. Gah, it's worse

Back to the drawing board. I spoke with my CPA, and he explained that not only will I have to pay for the medical with post taxed money, after doing the math, I would be out about $12,000 in taxed dollars for my current medical.

[Joesunionreview]

4. Gah, Gah, now I'm reading that if my employer...

...chooses to keep me in a group plan, that I will not be able to claim the tax credit, but I will have to pay the tax burden.