Today, the House will begin debating the “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act”—the Republican effort to reverse the far-reaching 2010 health measure. As has been widely noted, it is a symbolic vote that will lead nowhere—in part because, despite the GOP rhetoric, the public supports most of the law. With one exception. Americans detest the [...]

Last spring, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the new health legislation would reduce the deficit by $143 billion over ten years. Yesterday, CBO estimated that repealing that legislation would increase the deficit by $230 billion over ten years. What gives? Why would it cost $87 billion more to repeal the law than was saved by enacting [...]

Three-quarters of Americans believe that entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security “will create major economic problems” over the next 25 years. But two-thirds are opposed to addressing these challenges by reducing benefits, and 56 percent are against raising taxes. And congressional candidates, who read the polls, are scrambling to pander to the free-lunch [...]

Back in March, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the new health legislation would reduce the federal budget deficit by about $140 billion over the next ten years and by about 0.5% of gross domestic product in the decade after that. Ever since, analysts have been debating whether we should believe those estimates. Some say the legislation will deliver much larger budget savings than those modest estimates suggest, while others insist it will greatly increase future deficits.

While most everyone else in Washngton was viewing the cherry blossoms or otherwise enjoying a beautiful weekend, I was trapped indoors trying to get a handle on my taxes. Unlike most folks, as described in this great column in the Washington Post on Tax Myths by my Tax Policy Center colleagues Rosanne Altshuler and Bob Williams, I usually do my taxes myself and often without the aid of software. I'm a tax geek, so doing my return on my own gives me an up close and personal look at what I study. Plus I get a charge out of conquering the tax code. I did admit to being a tax geek.

One day soon, I would like to walk into my neighborhood supermarket, load up my cart with goodies and walk out the door. When I’m confronted by security about the matter of paying for the stuff, I’ll just tell them to make everyone else in the store pick up the tab. If I lived in Virginia, I’d tell ‘em to go see Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who says I don’t have to pay.

Health reform is (almost) law. And while the Senate must still agree to a package of technical fixes approved by the House late last night, we now can see historic changes in the way we will buy health insurance. We can also see big new tax increases, at least for some relatively high-income people. But the most important won’t take effect for years. And there’s the rub.

President Obama’s proposal to boost the Medicare tax is a key element of the compromise health bill that looks increasingly as if it is going to become law. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates it would generate over $180 billion over the next decade. And exactly as intended, the tax increase would fall almost entirely on the top 1 percent of taxpayers, according to a new analysis by my Tax Policy Center colleagues.

Critics of health reform legislation assert that it would crush small business. The National Federation of Independent Business, for instance, insists reform will have “a costly and punitive impact” on these firms.
I do not understand this argument. Small businesses face huge disadvantages in today’s insurance market. Unlike their larger competitors, they can’t self-insure or bargain for low premiums and their small risk pools make them highly susceptible to huge rate hikes if just a single employee gets sick. The health bill would help level that playing field.

President Obama’s new $950 billion health plan would impose a new “payroll” tax on investment income, and keep a watered-down version of the Senate proposal to tax high-cost health plans.