DETAILS OF THE TAXES AND FEES ASSOCIATED WITH THE HEALTH CARE LAW.

A friend recently cited something that is in the Health Care Law. He said he knew or heard about the 1.5% tax on home sales to be paid by the seller. I hadn’t heard that. I had read much of the actual bill that was not one of the items that I could recall. Many friends have also told me about some items that are NOT in the law but they believe that these items are contained in the law. So, I did a little research and found a synopsis of all the taxes and fees on Kiplinger’s site.  Here is what I found out.
There are 13 taxes and fees associated with the Heal Care Bill. Some are ridiculous and are “so whats” such as the 10% tax on tanning services. These tanning beds can cause cancer so there has to be a price for vanity. Me, I am neutral on this, I lay by the pool, as I said, it is a so what!

There are tax credits associated with the law. Yep, I said CREDITS! This is a little complicated, but initially small businesses can receive up to 35% of their health care premium cost as a CREDIT. Later, that CREDIT can go to 50%. Now even though that the value of the health insurance an employee receives is on their W-2 form, it is NOT taxable. That can hurt business – how?

Play loose with the law regarding non qualified (I have no idea) distributions from health savings accounts (do you know anyone that has one?) then the fine is doubled to 20% (of what?). There is a cap on how much an employer can contribute to health care flexible spending accounts to $2500 per year, whatever that means. I do know that you can’t use these funds for Advil or any other OTC drug. Viagra, I am not sure.

Here is where it could hurt your earnings. ( it means having a job – a very well paying job) If you earn more than $200,000 per year or $250,000 for married couples there will be a .9% sur tax on the excess of the amounts stated. So, if you are earning $500,000 a year, your Medicare sur tax will be $2250, less than one half of one percent – that will stifle jobs, right, wrong!
There is actually more to this part of the bill that has high earners pissed off. It will apply to unearned income such as interest, dividends, capital gains, annuities, royalties and rents. Any interest that is tax exempt now will be then as well.

You will have to have 10% of your income allocated to medical deductions starting in 2013 rather than 7.5%. With the price of medications today, that increase of 2.5% to many will mean nothing.

A friend recently cited something that is in the Health Care Law. He said he knew or heard about the 1.5% tax on home sales to be paid by the seller. I hadn’t heard that. I had read much of the actual bill that was not one of the items that I could recall. Many friends have also told me about some items that are NOT in the law but they believe that these items are contained in the law. So, I did a little research and found a synopsis of all the taxes and fees on Kiplinger’s site.  Here is what I found out.

There are 13 taxes and fees associated with the Heal Care Bill. Some are ridiculous and are “so whats” such as the 10% tax on tanning services. These tanning beds can cause cancer so there has to be a price for vanity. Me, I am neutral on this, I lay by the pool, as I said, it is a so what!

There are tax credits associated with the law. Yep, I said CREDITS! This is a little complicated, but initially small businesses can receive up to 35% of their health care premium cost as a CREDIT. Later, that CREDIT can go to 50%. Now even though that the value of the health insurance an employee receives is on their W-2 form, it is NOT taxable. That can hurt business – how?

Play loose with the law regarding non qualified (I have no idea) distributions from health savings accounts (do you know anyone that has one?) then the fine is doubled to 20% (of what?). There is a cap on how much an employer can contribute to health care flexible spending accounts to $2500 per year, whatever that means. I do know that you can’t use these funds for Advil or any other OTC drug. Viagra, I am not sure.

Here is where it could hurt your earnings. ( it means having a job – a very well paying job) If you earn more than $200,000 per year or $250,000 for married couples there will be a .9% sur tax on the excess of the amounts stated. So, if you are earning $500,000 a year, your Medicare sur tax will be $2250, less than one half of one percent – that will stifle jobs, right, wrong!

There is actually more to this part of the bill that has high earners pissed off. It will apply to unearned income such as interest, dividends, capital gains, annuities, royalties and rents. Any interest that is tax exempt now will be then as well.

You will have to have 10% of your income allocated to medical deductions starting in 2013 rather than 7.5%. With the price of medications today, that increase of 2.5% to many will mean nothing.

Remember those GOLDEN PLANS that cover everything from rhinoplasty to breast enhancement, and the premiums are paid by an employer? That gets a real kick if the plan costs more than $27,500 for a family for a year. It is a 40% excise tax on the amount that exceeds the $27,500. Who generally gets these plans? CEOs making millions every year. This could be a real drag as the 40% could be as much as two start times  for foursomes at the country club! What a job killer!

We’ve covered one through ten – there are three more.

THE MANDATE. Here’s how that works for those of you that hate paying for someone else’s health care. Too bad we can’t get uninsured health care as we do for uninsured motorists on our auto policy (Mandated).  Starting in 2014 a minimum yearly tax of $95 is imposed or 1% of income rising to $695 or 2.5% of income by 2016. You don’t have to get insurance if the 2.5% is better than a plan that costs more. Here are some more MANDATES: You must have a passport to travel – costs about $100. You must have a driver’s license – cost about $25. You must have a gas shut off valve at your home – cost about $350. You must have a six foot fence if you have a pool – cost about $3000. Smog control and smog testing – MANDATE.  Nobody helps you with those costs! And even though there are no “declared” wars, you are mandated to register for Selective Service at age 18.

If you can’t afford the MANDATE then there are refundable tax credits if the family‘s household earnings are from $22,000 to $88,000 for families. Single tax payers can get a sliding scale credit based on income from $11,000 to $44,000.

The last of the 13 is the nondeductible fee charged to businesses with 50 or more employees that fails to offer adequate coverage. As I grew up my father, then me; we always had employer provided adequate coverage.  My dad was union and I was never union, but insurance was part of my employment. When I had employees I provided the coverage and I only had six employees at the time. That benefit helped me get the best employees.

I can see General Motors going out of business because they don’t want to provide health care coverage to their employees – Oh, yes, shut GM down because of health insurance? Health insurance is more than medical coverage. Train an employee, have them work for you for ten years and they get sick. What is more cost effective? Find another employee, train them to do the job, lose the productivity while they learn, OR make the employee well with adequate health coverage? I ask, which do you think is better?

Remember those GOLDEN PLANS that cover everything from rhinoplasty to breast enhancement, and the premiums are paid by an employer? That gets a real kick if the plan costs more than $27,500 for a family for a year. It is a 40% excise tax on the amount that exceeds the $27,500. Who generally gets these plans? CEOs making millions every year. This could be a real drag as the 40% could be as much as two start times for two foursomes at the country club! What a job killer!

We’ve covered one through ten – there are three more.

THE MANDATE. Here’s how that works for those of you that hate paying for someone else’s health care. Too bad we can’t get uninsured health care as we do for uninsured motorists on our auto policy (Mandated).  Starting in 2014 a minimum yearly tax of $95 is imposed or 1% of income rising to $695 or 2.5% of income by 2016. You don’t have to get insurance if the 2.5% is better than a plan that costs more. Here are some more MANDATES: You must have a passport to travel – costs about $100. You must have a driver’s license – cost about $25. You must have a gas shut off valve at your home – cost about $350. You must have a six foot fence if you have a pool – cost about $3000. Smog control and smog testing – MANDATE.  Nobody helps you with those costs! And even though there are no “declared” wars, you are mandated to register for Selective Service at age 18.

If you can’t afford the MANDATE then there are refundable tax credits if the family‘s household earnings are from $22,000 to $88,000 for families. Single tax payers can get a sliding scale credit based on income from $11,000 to $44,000.

The last of the 13 is the nondeductible fee charged to businesses with 50 or more employees that fails to offer adequate coverage. As I grew up my father, then me; we always had employer provided adequate coverage.  My dad was union and I was never union, but insurance was part of my employment. When I had employees I provided the coverage and I only had six employees at the time. That benefit helped me get the best employees.

I can see General Motors going out of business because they don’t want to provide health care coverage to their employees – Oh, yes, shut GM down because of health insurance? Health insurance is more than medical coverage. Train an employee, have them work for you for ten years and they get sick. What is more cost effective? Find another employee, train them to do the job, lose the productivity while they learn, OR make the employee well with adequate health coverage? I ask, which do you think is better?

Oh, I never found that 1.5% tax. That, like so many other myths that surround the health care bill, distort the facts. Everyone I ask hates the plan but loves what is in it. It is like watching your family taking a drive in a Yugo. Don’t like the car, but love what is in it. It will get you where you need to go.

That is my take on it - you decide!

WRITER’S BLOCK OR CTOS* – BUT THEN THIS CAME TO MIND

It is the 10^th year of remembrance of 9/11. My ideas may be crazy and off the chart, but facts of history do speak for themselves. That was a very tragic day and the loss of life will never be acceptable to any right thinking American or citizen of the world, for that matter. I want to honor those that fell that day and those that have fallen in the ensuing wars. By inserting some humor I am trying to say that we were not and are not defeated! They say that time plus tragedy is the formula for comedy – there is no comedy here, just some humor – as there is in all events.

I will sit for days thinking that I will never have another idea, opinion, philosophy or experience to write about that might engage a reader. Then it comes. I can’t tell you how many blogs have been written by me as the Ambien are kicking in. Decision time; get up and make a quick note and then try to go to sleep without the full effect of the Ambien or just doze off and hope that the idea has a shelf life of about eight hours.

In most cases either scenario works. That is how these ideas come. Someone asked so I thought I would tell. One came to me while shaving this morning. They were touting President Bush’s interview on some obscure channel regarding 9/11 and these thoughts popped up (along with my breakfast – too early in the morning for that kind of trauma). It was also dangerous because I was using a razor to shave, the kind with blades.

During the attacks on 9/11 George sat there in the Florida class room for seven minutes. Didn’t move a muscle. During those seven minutes he was debating  whether he should ask the smart kid in the front row, “What to do?”. He didn’t want to scare them so instead he looked like a startled deer in headlights frozen with fear. The deer at least has a look that asks, “What the f__k?”

Getting back to the ideas that have trouble coming, here is one set of ideas that came while the Barbasol was lathering my face.

Here is what I think GWB was thinking:

This is his stream of consciousness, if you will (he was awake – his eyes were open and looking down in the photo). I believe his first thought was, “OH SHIT.” His second was, “no not in these pants! I just had them cleaned. I will have to sit here until the spot dries!” His remaining thoughts went something like this:

Bet that guy Saddaam did it. He didn’t like my daddy, he tried to kill my daddy.  It was Saddam, even if it wasn’t Saddam. Condi told me something about an attack that was going to happen by Al somebody. That report was last month. Thought that Al was the guy that fixed her car- guess not.

Ok, who else could have done it? What , there were Saudis on those planes? I can’t say that, the royal family is family – they wouldn’t do that to me. Heck, the king spent time at my ranch. Wait, he could still be pissed because he stepped in some . . . nah we got it all off but it did stink for a while. These are kind people, the kind that like to beat their wives but they don’t ever try that on my momma or Laura. I would strongly threaten to kick their ass if they did or make them buy some cool weapons at some very good prices.

Osama ben Laden? No way. They are also family. The ben Ladens and the Bush families go way back. Heck we’ve been business partners for years. Ah, I do recall that they had a difficult son in the family. Nah, he wouldn’t do it – he swam in our pool, drank our coffee and snuck a beer every once in a while. He was a tall SOB!

So here is what we got to do: Get Dick to organize his old company so they can charge us extremely high prices for everything. Do a bombing raid on Baghdad- call it “Shock in the Box.” No that won’t do – awe shucks – I got it “Shuck and Awe!” Almost there --- SHOCK AND AWE, that’s it.

Let’s bomb the shit out of Iraq – even if the attack was carried out by Saudis. We will look for their Weapons of Mass Destruction. (W, like me, MD) Or, let’s pretend to go looking for them and anyone who says they ain’t there we will brand as being un- patriotic. Wow, I got the way to spend this country into economic ruin and then let the Democrats try to solve that problem.  I will declare that I am a dictator (as a joke, but I won’t be laughing).  No, he really wasn’t’ that smart!

That was a long seven minutes and I don’t know what was really in his head, if anything, but it lead to a  well concocted plan to screw the US for many years.

Speaking of seven minutes have you read the Sidney Sheldon book that describes seven minutes in another, more interesting way? Maybe that is what George was doing for those seven minutes, in either case, something got wet!

OK, Mr. President, we got to go and go - now! He thought, “Not till my pants are dry.”

That is my thinking – you decide!

*Can’t think of shit.