Senate Finance Committee healthcare proposals:Tax! Tax! Tax!

"Government's view...could be summed up in a few short phrases:If it moves, tax it.If it keeps moving, regulate it.And if it stops moving, subsidize it." Ronald Reagan

And it seems they're at it again. I'm talking about a report issued by the senate finance committee earlier this year dealing with proposed changes to America's health care system.
The name of the report is Financing Comprehensive Healthcare Reform:Proposed Health System Savings And Revenue Options. This is the senate finance committees blue print for proposals to change our present system.

This is a fairly extensive document-although no match for the House bill- and runs to 41 pages,and is loaded,and I mean Loaded with proposed new taxes. And here are just a few of the proposals that we may see included in the S.F.C. draft bill.

" A number of options could be considered that would limit the value of employer-provided health coverage that is exclude able from gross income. The limit could be based on the value of the plan or the income of the insured, or the limit could be a combination of both. Alternatively, the limit could be tied to a percentage of the value of the employer-provided health coverage."

Here's a big one. this is found in SECTION II: Options to Modify the Exclusion for Employer-
Provided Health Coverage. There it is the liberals in the senate want to tax your health benefits and make them a part of your gross income.

All this will do is cause some workers to drop their employer provided health care, and since they don't have a public option, force these people to go without insurance.

This is just the tip of the Iceberg and oh what an iceberg it is. Some other proposals would alter or eliminate H.S.A.'s and Flex Spending accounts.

These folks want to take one of the better reform of recent years-a reform that actually encourages people to take more responsibility for their health care-and destroy it-or at the very least-tax it to death. It gets even better in SECTION IV: Lifestyle Related Revenue Raisers we find proposals for new taxes on soft drinks,distilled alchohol,wine and beer. They're going to drive you to drink with all their new taxes and tax the hell out of you again if you do.

If that wasn't bad enough they also propose eliminating credits for domestic oil and gas exploration, as well as ,domestic refining. They have also set their sights on alternative fuels. What ever happened to energy Independence?

The final section deals with proposed revenue enhancements put forth by the Obama administration. Once again oodles and oodles of new taxes.

Dear reader if you think things are bad now it looks we may be going to worse very soon. I have only managed to scratch the surface of this turkey, and if even half of this comes out in the final draft, then everyone who cares about the health, well being, fitness not only of individuals, but also this nation and it's economy, needs to send a loud no thank you to congress.

Once again more change we can darn sure live without