GOP must attack taxes in health care act

If the GOP expects to retake the White House, regain control of the Senate and keep the majority in the House, they had better start thinking of the voter and not their current agenda.

The Supreme Court upheld the mandatory tax requirement of Obamacare, and it will never be repealed. The GOP has to start working on the individual parts of the law. The president and Democrats keep restating the “bullet points” of the act, like pre-existing conditions, child coverage until age 26 and other points that appeal to the voters. The GOP have to start pointing out the true cost of the act and present their alternatives to health care.

The first area to repeal is the definition of a large company, which the act defines as 50 employees. How many small companies need to expand but must adhere to the rules and regulations on health insurance?

In this depressed housing market, the act will tax all real estate transactions with a flat 3.8-percent tax on the gross sale price, further eroding the marketability of property.

Investment income will be taxed at 23.8 percent and dividends will have a tax rate of 43.4 percent. It will become extremely difficult to accrue any wealth, and seniors will see their dividend income decrease drastically.

When Congress passed the health care act, they knew it was a tax — not a penalty, because the law allocates almost $1 billion for upgrading computers and to hire another 3,000 IRS agents. This is to improve the ability of the IRS to check every tax return.

The GOP must start attacking the tax increases, the 1,200 waivers and the “pork” projects that have nothing to do with health care. The fringes of the act have been mentioned, so now is the time to start reading the law.

Jack McCabe

Batavia