Tax Policy Center

Obamacare

: TaxVox

A Replacement, A Vision, and Promises

An Obamacare replacement? Senate Finance Committee chair Orrin Hatch, House Energy and Commerce chair Fred Upton, and GOP Senator Richard Burr have released their health reform plan, called the Patient CARE Act. The proposal, similar to a bill Hatch and Burr introduced last year, would repeal the
February 6, 2015Renu Zaretsky
: TaxVox

Who Deserves a [Tax] Break Today?

Is dynamic scoring ready for prime time? At a TPC-Hutchins Center program yesterday, backers and critics debated whether congressional scorekeepers should include macroeconomic effects of tax changes when doing a budget score. They disagreed, of course, but did agree that if the tool is used, it
January 27, 2015Renu Zaretsky
Business Taxes: TaxVox

How Did Medical Device Makers Become Poster Children for Obamacare Critics

The push to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s tax on medical devices has somehow become a touchstone for GOP efforts to chip away at President Obama’s health care law. But why? To paraphrase Bogart’s classic line from Casablanca: Of all the taxes in all laws in all the world, why did they pick this
November 13, 2014Howard Gleckman
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

Why Not Ditch the Medical Device Excise Tax and Boost Cigarette Taxes?

Senate Republicans are insisting that the 2.3% excise tax on medical devices, enacted as part of the Affordable Care Act, be repealed as part of the package extending expired tax provisions . Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the proposal to chip away at part of Obamacare is not
May 23, 2014Leonard E. Burman
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms: TaxVox

If You Have High Income, Your Taxes Are Going Up

As the April 15 deadline for filing 2013 income taxes nears, most of us are finding that Uncle Sam will take about the same share of our income as last year. But the story is very different for people at the top of the income ladder. Their taxes are going up, in many cases by a lot. Last year, the
April 8, 2014Roberton C. Williams
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

A Web Tool to Calculate ACA Tax Penalties

The deadline is looming: If you don’t have approved insurance coverage by March 31 (and are not exempt from the requirement), the Affordable Care Act...
March 6, 2014Roberton C. Williams
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

How 19 Million Uninsured Tax Filers Could Get ACA Coverage

Back in November, I suggested that tax prep firms might be a useful portal for low-income people to get insurance coverage through the Affordable Care...
February 20, 2014Howard Gleckman
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

Why Not Use Tax Preparers as a Portal to Health Exchanges?

What if we bought individual health insurance through our tax preparers? At first, the idea seems bizarre, but give me a minute to explain. Given...
November 14, 2013Howard Gleckman
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

How Big is the Penalty if You Don’t Get Health Insurance?

Stories about the Affordable Care Act often tell readers that they’ll have to pay a $95 penalty if they don’t get adequate health insurance coverage...
November 6, 2013Roberton C. Williams
Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

Is Obamacare the GOP’s White Whale?

“The White Whale swam before him as the monomaniac incarnation of all those malicious agencies which some deep men feel eating in them…All that most...
September 17, 2013Howard Gleckman