Thursday, December 10, 2009

ObamaCare Will Cost the Middle Class: Grassley

Seems like the Left just can't help but lie with statistics.

Grassley (R-Iowa) asked Joint Tax Committee staff to analyze ObamaCare (v. 5.8, or whatever).

First, there is a group of low- and middle-income taxpayers who clearly benefit under the bill. This group, however, is relatively small. There is another much larger group of middle-income taxpayers who are seeing their taxes go up due to one or a combination of the following tax increases: (1) the high cost plan tax, (2) the medical expense deduction limitation, and (3) the medicare payroll tax. In general, this group is not benefiting from the tax credit (because they are not eligible for the tax credit), but they are subject to the tax increase(s). Also, there is an additional group of taxpayers who would be affected by other tax increase provisions that JCT could not distribute. Finance Committee staff is working with JCT to determine how to identify this “un-distributed” group of people. … This analysis reveals that while a relatively small group of middle-class individuals, families, and single parents are benefiting under the Reid bill, a much larger group of middle-class individuals, families, and single parents are disadvantaged.

So how does Baucus justify blather about a 'net tax reduction'?

Senate Democrats have used a different JCT analysis that show the combined effects on these two populations when blended together. You have a relatively small group of people getting big net benefits, and a much larger group paying net costs. The aggregate impact for the two populations combined is a net benefit for the group as a whole, and advocates for the bill have therefore argued the bill is a “middle class tax cut.”

Lie with numbers! (We checked. No one at East Anglia University admits being consulted by Baucus' staff.)

Hennessey posts the table showing the gains/losses numbers by income level. As we've often mentioned, working for a large (preferably unionized) employer mitigates your losses on ObamaCare. Surprised?

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