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Will Obamacare eventually tax health insurance as income?

The Man

The Man

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We got a notice at work the other day letting us know that the value of our health insurance will be reported on our W2 forms, as it was last year, and stated that the Affordable Care Act does not require them to tax this at this time. The 'at this time' part says to me 'get lubed up back there and ready to bend over and take it'. So, will our company provided health insurance benefits eventually be taxed as income? If so, how do we stop it from happening?
 
If you have a policy deemed too good, they 2081 you.
 
The Man said:
We got a notice at work the other day letting us know that the value of our health insurance will be reported on our W2 forms, as it was last year, and stated that the Affordable Care Act does not require them to tax this at this time. The 'at this time' part says to me 'get lubed up back there and ready to bend over and take it'. So, will our company provided health insurance benefits eventually be taxed as income? If so, how do we stop it from happening?
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Damn, I hope to god not.
 
If John McCain had his way, our health insurance would be taxed as income.
 
If you give the government new information, they will without fail find a new thing to tax.
 
This has tossed around for a while but so far has never been passed and so far defeated.

For some reason there are people in congress that think you pay check belongs to them and that the government is just being gracious to let you keep
the money you do get.

I think it starts either this year or next year there is a Cadillac healthcare excise tax. how this works is if the total premium for your healthcare plan exceeds 10k for a single person and 25k for a family there is a 40% tax on the difference.

Basically it punishes companies for offering good insurance to their employee's which is the dumbest piece of logic i have ever heard of, but that is reid, obama and pelosi for you.

they want everyone to have crap insurance.

so if you are single and work for a good company and your total premium (both yours and what your company pays) say is 14k. it would be 14k-10k=4k
your company would have to pay a 40% tax on 4k.

for every person that has the same plan. so what has happened is companies have actually lowered their coverages to get under those marks to avoid the tax. which means worse coverage for employee's that had great coverage.

left wing liberalism at it's finest.

so far republicans have held them off from taxing your healthcare benefits as income so far. it has been proposed though.
 
The Man said:
We got a notice at work the other day letting us know that the value of our health insurance will be reported on our W2 forms, as it was last year, and stated that the Affordable Care Act does not require them to tax this at this time. The 'at this time' part says to me 'get lubed up back there and ready to bend over and take it'. So, will our company provided health insurance benefits eventually be taxed as income? If so, how do we stop it from happening?
Click to expand...

That has to be disclosed now so that people in employer-sponsored plans know what their health plan actually costs (not just the sliver of it they pay for themselves). You know, transparency.
 
Like the lady said "You have to pass it to see what's in it". Similar to a stool sample.
 
The Man said:
We got a notice at work the other day letting us know that the value of our health insurance will be reported on our W2 forms, as it was last year, and stated that the Affordable Care Act does not require them to tax this at this time. The 'at this time' part says to me 'get lubed up back there and ready to bend over and take it'. So, will our company provided health insurance benefits eventually be taxed as income? If so, how do we stop it from happening?
Click to expand...

Well, although my stance won't be popular? As an entrepreneur whose medical had to exceed 7% of income before it could be deducted, I think the benefits should be taxed.

If a CEO was getting away with crap like that with perks? You guys'd be alllll over it.

The company gets to deduct it as an expense. Those receiving it should have to pay the tax on it.
 
They should tax all benefits just like your normal income. And they should lower the total income tax rate when they do it.
 
Greenbeard said:
That has to be disclosed now so that people in employer-sponsored plans know what their health plan actually costs (not just the sliver of it they pay for themselves). You know, transparency.
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I know that, and I have no problem with it (it was on our W2 last year as well), but that's not what I was asking.
 
MaggieD said:
Well, although my stance won't be popular? As an entrepreneur whose medical had to exceed 7% of income before it could be deducted, I think the benefits should be taxed.

If a CEO was getting away with crap like that with perks? You guys'd be alllll over it.

The company gets to deduct it as an expense. Those receiving it should have to pay the tax on it.
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I disagree because to the employee receiving the insurance benefit, it's not income, so why should it be taxed as such?

If you want to say that companies are no longer able to use it as a tax deduction, that's fine, but expect prices of goods to rise to make up the difference.

The bottom line to me is, our government takes enough money from us in taxes that they don't know how to spend efficiently or properly. They don't need any more. You don't give an alcoholic a bottle of booze to cure their alcoholism, and you don't give a government who is horrible with money more money to fix their spending problem.
 
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The Man said:
We got a notice at work the other day letting us know that the value of our health insurance will be reported on our W2 forms, as it was last year, and stated that the Affordable Care Act does not require them to tax this at this time. The 'at this time' part says to me 'get lubed up back there and ready to bend over and take it'. So, will our company provided health insurance benefits eventually be taxed as income? If so, how do we stop it from happening?
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Yes, except for unions, they got a pass.
 
And why agian should you get a tax free benefit that no one else gets at all????
 
274ina said:
And why agian should you get a tax free benefit that no one else gets at all????
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What are you talking about 'no one else gets at all'? The vast majority of health insured people in this country are through employer supplied, tax free health insurance benefits.

Why should it be taxed?
 
reinoe said:
If John McCain had his way, our health insurance would be taxed as income.
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I'm confused. Health insurance cost about $500 a month. Your taxable income would increase by $6,000. Unless you are ridiculously rich that would be a $600 tax increase. I'm poor as s*** and I'll loan you $600 if you really need it.

If this really offends you, I'm sure they can raise your taxes by $600 some other way that is more acceptable to you. :2funny:
 
MaggieD said:
Well, although my stance won't be popular? As an entrepreneur whose medical had to exceed 7% of income before it could be deducted, I think the benefits should be taxed.

If a CEO was getting away with crap like that with perks? You guys'd be alllll over it.

The company gets to deduct it as an expense. Those receiving it should have to pay the tax on it.
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Yes. The spirit of this law was corrupt in nature. This allowed larger companies to have a greater advantage over smaller companies.

I don't understand benefits. Just pay me more money, I'll buy my own benefits. Giving me $6,000 a year in income instead of giving me $6,000 in insurance would be a wash for most taxpayers. It only benefits higher earners to have the $6,000 excluded from their taxable income.
 
The Man said:
What are you talking about 'no one else gets at all'?
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If your tax rate is 0% which applies to 47% of the population, you get no benefit from this deduction. It's just feel good legislation for the tax hating Americans who love avoiding $5 in taxes even though they may get screwed out of $10 in the process.

For example: Paying interest of $20,000 on a mortgage will save you $2,000 in taxes.

Paying $0.00 in interest on a mortgage will cost you an additional $2,000 in taxes.

The net benefit of paying $2,000 in taxes? You will save $18,000 by paying off your mortgage yet most financial planners recommend people to stay in debt to get a mortgage deduction. WTF?? These are educated people with 6 figure incomes?? They just cost their client $18,000 in order to provide them with the emotional high associated with saving $2,000 in taxes.

:thinking :screwy
 
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The Man said:
I disagree because to the employee receiving the insurance benefit, it's not income, so why should it be taxed as such?
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Because health insurance is a form of compensation. A person at one job may earn $12 per hour with no benefits while a person at another may earn $10 plus benefits. If both jobs are of equal monetary value in the end, why should one person be taxed more than the other? (Im not saying this should be taxed, but that it can certainly be viewed as income and subject to income tax) Look at it another way: If Obamacare causes an employer to drop insurance coverage for their employees, it is likely they will make up the loss in benefits with a rise in wages. And those will certainly be taxed.
 
Some people's health insurance has been taxed as income for a while.

That's a hard, cold fact of life. If it puts money in your pocket, you pay tax on it.

Welcome to reality.
 
The Man said:
What are you talking about 'no one else gets at all'? The vast majority of health insured people in this country are through employer supplied, tax free health insurance benefits.

Why should it be taxed?
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As Maggie pointed out, because the self employed (or others not given that employer benefit) must use after tax income to pay for their medical care insurance.
 
The Man said:
I disagree because to the employee receiving the insurance benefit, it's not income, so why should it be taxed as such?

If you want to say that companies are no longer able to use it as a tax deduction, that's fine, but expect prices of goods to rise to make up the difference.

The bottom line to me is, our government takes enough money from us in taxes that they don't know how to spend efficiently or properly. They don't need any more. You don't give an alcoholic a bottle of booze to cure their alcoholism, and you don't give a government who is horrible with money more money to fix their spending problem.
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It is written off of the employer's income as a direct labor cost, just as the rest of that employee's paycheck is, so it is income that is not taxed.
 
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