ObamaCare Mandate Tax Falls Heavily on Middle Class

September 20, 2012

ObamaCare Mandate Tax Falls Heavily on Middle Class

New CBO Report Offers More Proof that ObamaCare Will Be a Massive Tax Increase on the Middle Class

A new Congressional Budget Office report confirms that the core of ObamaCare is a massive new multi-billion dollar tax on millions of middle class families who choose not to purchase insurance.
This startling number comes after Democrats repeatedly denied that ObamaCare would increases taxes on the middle class and insisted that their individual mandate was not a tax, even after the Supreme Court said that it was.
Count it as just the latest destructive tax in ObamaCare that will eliminate jobs and hurt middle class families.

A new Congressional Budget Office report confirms that the core of ObamaCare is a massive new multi-billion dollar tax on millions of middle class families who choose not to purchase insurance:

6 MILLION AMERICANS TO GET HIT BY OBAMACARE’S MANDATE TAX: (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Tax Penalty to Hit 6 Million Uninsured People,” Associated Press, 9/19/2012)

ESTIMATE IS UP 50% FROM LAST TIME: “The numbers from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office are 50 percent higher than a previous projection by the same office in 2010, shortly after the law passed. The earlier estimate found 4 million people would be affected in 2016, when the penalty is fully in effect.” (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Tax Penalty to Hit 6 Million Uninsured People,” Associated Press, 9/19/2012)

4.7 MILLION FAMILIES, NEARLY 80% OF THOSE HIT BY THE TAX, ARE IN THE MIDDLE CLASS: “Among those who will have to pay a mandate penalty, 4.7 million will have incomes below 500 percent of the federal poverty line, according to the CBO, which is projected to be $60,000 for individuals and $123,000 for families of four by 2016. Given that the Supreme Court ruled the mandate was a tax, this would be a direct violation of President Obama’s pledge not to raise taxes on those earning less than $250,000.” (Phillip Klein, “CBO: ObamaCare Mandate Will Cost 6 Million Taxpayers $7 Billion in 2016,” The Washington Examiner, 9/19/2012)

AVERAGE PENALTY: ABOUT $1,200 IN 2016: “Average penalty: about $1,200 in 2016.” (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Tax Penalty to Hit 6 Million Uninsured People,” Associated Press, 9/19/2012)

MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES HIT BY OBAMACARE MANDATE TAX MAKE LESS THAN $56,000 FOR INDIVIDUALS, $116,000 FOR A FAMILY OF FOUR: “And the budget office analysis found that nearly 80 percent of those who’ll face the penalty would be making up to or less than five times the federal poverty level. Currently that would work out to $55,850 or less for an individual and $115,250 or less for a family of four.” (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Tax Penalty to Hit 6 Million Uninsured People,” Associated Press, 9/19/2012)

600,000 PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN FAMILIES THAT MAKE LESS THAN $24,600 PER YEAR WILL FACE THE MANDATE TAX: (“Payments Of Penalties For Being Uninsured Under The Affordable Care Act,” Congressional Budget Office, 9/19/2012)

1.2 MILLION AMERICANS WHO LIVE IN FAMILIES EARNING BETWEEN $24,600 AND $49,200 WILL FACE MANDATE TAX: (“Payments Of Penalties For Being Uninsured Under The Affordable Care Act,” Congressional Budget Office, 9/19/2012)

1.2 MILLION AMERICANS WHO LIVE IN FAMILIES THAT EARN BETWEEN $49,200 AND $73,800 PER YEAR WILL FACE MANDATE TAX: (“Payments Of Penalties For Being Uninsured Under The Affordable Care Act,” Congressional Budget Office, 9/19/2012)

1.1 MILLION AMERICANS WHO LIVE IN FAMILIES EARNING BEWEEN $73,900 AND $98,400 A YEAR WILL FACE MANDATE TAX: (“Payments Of Penalties For Being Uninsured Under The Affordable Care Act,” Congressional Budget Office, 9/19/2012)

600,000 AMERICANS WHO LIVE IN FAMILIES EARNING BETWEEN $98,400 AND $123,000 A YEAR WILL FACE THE MANDATE TAX: (“Payments Of Penalties For Being Uninsured Under The Affordable Care Act,” Congressional Budget Office, 9/19/2012)

This startling number comes after Democrats repeatedly denied that ObamaCare would increases taxes on the middle class and insisted that their individual mandate was not a tax, even after the Supreme Court said that it was:

SUPREME COURT: THE INDIVIDUAL MANDATE “MAY REASONABLY BE CHARACTERIZED AS A TAX”: “The Affordable Care Act’s requirement that certain individuals pay a financial penalty for not obtaining health insurance may reasonably be characterized as a tax.” (Chief Justice John Roberts, 567 U.S. ____(2012), Supreme Court of the United States, 6/28/2012, p. 44)

OBAMA IN 2008: “IF YOU’RE A FAMILY MAKING LESS THAN $250,000 A YEAR, MY PLAN WON’T RAISE YOUR TAXES ONE PENNY… NOT ANY OF YOUR TAXES”: ” ‘And if you’re a family making less than $250,000 a year, my plan won’t raise your taxes one penny — not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes,’ Obama told an audience in Orlando, Florida, in August 2008, something he repeated at almost every opportunity.” (Kevin Hassett, “ObamaCare Tax Frays Middle-Class Vow,” Bloomberg, 10/12/2009)

OBAMA SAID IN 2009 THAT HIS INDIVIDUAL MANDATE WAS “ABSOLUTELY NOT A TAX INCREASE”: STEPHANOPOULOS: “Under this mandate, the government is forcing people to spend money, fining you if you don’t. How is that not a tax?” … PRESIDENT OBAMA: “No. That’s not true, George. The — for us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase. What it’s saying is, is that we’re not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you anymore than the fact that right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance. Nobody considers that a tax increase.” (“Obama: Mandate Is Not A Tax,” ABC News, 9/20/2009)

MORE OBAMA: “I ABSOLUTELY REJECT THAT NOTION”: STEPHANOPOULOS: “But you reject that it’s a tax increase?” PRESIDENT OBAMA: “I absolutely reject that notion.“ (“Obama: Mandate Is Not A Tax,” ABC News, 9/20/2009)

PELOSI: INDIVIDUAL MANDATE BEING A TAX IS A TECHNICALITY: ” ‘Call it what you will, it is a step forward for America’s families and you know what? Take yes for an answer,’ Pelosi told reporters. … ‘Technical terms, that’s for us here,’ Pelosi said. ‘What it means for the American people is what it does to them.’” (Seung Min Kim, “Pelosi Ducks Whether Mandate’s A Tax,” Politico, 6/28/2012)

Count it as just the latest destructive tax in ObamaCare that will eliminate jobs and hurt middle class families:

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE: OBAMACARE TO DESTROY 800,000 JOBS:(Remarks from Douglas Elmendorf, House Budget Committee Hearing, 2/10/2011)

UBS RESEARCH: OBAMACARE IS “ARGUABLY THE BIGGEST IMPEDIMENT TO HIRING”: (“Great Suppression II,” UBS Research, Pgs.1, 5, 9/19/2011)

JOB-DESTROYING OBAMACARE TAX HIKES ARE ON THE WAY:

CBO: $1 TRILLION IN OBAMACARE TAX HIKES OVER 2013-2022: (Douglas Elmendorf, “Letter to the Honorable John Boehner,” Congressional Budget Office, 7/24/2012, p.6)

NFIB STUDY: 150K SMALL BUSINESS JOBS COULD BE DESTROYED BY OBAMACARE’S HEALTH INSURANCE TAX: (“NFIB Research Foundation Study: Health Insurance Tax to Cost 125,000 to 249,000 Private-Sector Jobs,” NFIB, 11/9/2011)

AT LEAST 14,500 JOBS OR AS MANY AS 47,000 JOBS COULD BE DESTROYED BY OBAMACARE’S HEART ATTACK TAX: (Michael Ramlet, Robert Book and Han Zhong, “The Economic Impact of the Medical Device Tax,” American Action Forum, 6/4/2012)

13,303 SMALL- TO MEDIUM-SIZE MEDICAL DEVICE FIRMS IN U.S., OR 91% OF ALL MEDICAL DEVICE COMPANIES COULD BE AFFECTED: (Michael Ramlet, Robert Book and Han Zhong, “The Economic Impact of the Medical Device Tax,” American Action Forum, 6/4/2012)

INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE ASSOCIATION: “3.2 MILLION JOBS AT FRANCHISE BUSINESSES CONTINUE TO BE PUT AT RISK”:(“High Court Ruling Puts Jobs at Franchise Businesses at Risk,” International Franchise Association, 6/28/2012)

ObamaCare’s Mandate Tax Falls Heavily on Middle Class http://ow.ly/dRz8I#iwantrepeal