(State-by-State Figures in Appendix)
This report compares the revenue impact and distributional effects of six progressive revenue measures that have been discussed by members of Congress in recent months as options for financing health care reform. All of the six revenue measures examined here would make our tax system fairer, which is badly needed after the regressive tax cuts enacted over the past several years.
(State-by-State Figures in Appendix)
The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to begin work this week on an overhaul to the American health care system. Many lawmakers and health experts have expressed concern that the proposal put forward by the committee’s chairman, Senator Max Baucus of Montana, does not provide enough resources to make health care affordable for working families. One option being discussed in the Senate is to reform the Medicare tax to raise the revenue needed to improve the affordability provisions.
Newly revised estimates from Citizens for Tax Justice show that the Bush tax cuts cost almost $2.5 trillion over the decade after they were first enacted (2001-2010). Preliminary estimates from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office show that the House Democrats’ health care reform legislation is projected to cost $1 trillion over the decade after it would be enacted (2010-2019). And yet, many of the lawmakers who argue that the health care reform legislation is “too costly” are the same lawmakers who supported the Bush tax cuts.
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