Roll Back the Bush Tax Cut to Pay for Health Reform

I caught the Randi Rhodes show today. She was suggesting that all we have to do to pay for Health Care Reform, including a Public Option, was to just Roll Back the Bush Tax Cuts!

What a Brilliant Idea!

Thanks Rhandi … (So glad you’re back btw)

As it turns out, we just need to let the Bush Tax Cuts Expire, when they are due to “sunset” (ie. Don’t Renew them!)

When Would the President’s Tax Cuts Expire?

by Andrew M. Grossman – April 21, 2004

In 2001 and 2003, President George W. Bush proposed and Congress passed a series of tax cuts to reinvigorate the economy and reduce the government’s burden on workers’ paychecks. Because of opposition to these measures from some in Congress, they were implemented as temporary tax cuts, all of which will expire by January 1, 2011.

http://www.heritage.org/Resear…

Kennedy health plan estimated to cost $1 trillion

By Richard Cowan – Jun 15, 2009

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. Senate panel proposal to expand healthcare coverage would increase the federal deficit by about $1 trillion over 10 years and still leave millions without insurance, a congressional analysis said on Monday.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said its calculations were preliminary and stressed that the Democratic-sponsored legislation was still being drafted.

[…]

There are now an estimated 46 million people in the United States without any health insurance, and devising a way to get them coverage has become a major goal of Obama’s presidency.

In a letter to Senator Edward Kennedy, chairman of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and author of the plan, the non-partisan CBO estimated that once the reform plan was fully implemented about 39 million people would get coverage through new insurance exchanges — a kind of clearinghouse for medical plans.

Individuals and small businesses would be able to shop in the exchanges for policies offered by insurance companies. Obama and fellow Democrats hope that a new, government-run plan would be one of those options.

http://www.reuters.com/article…

Bush’s Tax Cuts cost $2.2 trillion over the last 10 years

Early CBO Cost estimates for the Kennedy Health Reform Plan is $1 trillion over the next 10 years …

SO Problem Solved!

And once the Public Option competitive forces go to work, that Cost Estimate is likely to go down, even further.

Imagine it, a market where Quality is the Main competitive force, NOT Profits!

In case your worried about the fall out from the Right if we advocate for “NOT resuscitating” the Bush Tax Cuts — recall that those Tax Cuts were mostly to the benefit of the Wealthiest Americans anyways, as explain below:

Bush Tax Cut Proposal Leaves Out Many Working Families

Minnesota Budget Project

Tax cuts under the Bush plan are not in proportion to the percentage of federal taxes paid. The richest 1% of taxpayers pay 20% of all federal taxes, but receive 36% of all tax cuts under this plan; similarly, the richest 5% pay 36.5% of federal taxes, but receive 49% of the tax cuts.

[…]

Bush’s Tax Plan Spends More Than is Fiscally Responsible

Although the ten-year price tag for Bush’s tax cut is often described as $1.6 trillion, new estimates by the Joint Tax Committee describe it as $2.2 trillion. This is due not only from updated cost estimates of the rate reductions, but also from changes made to the proposal in the House of Representatives, and additional interest costs.

http://www.mncn.org/bp/bushtax…  (pdf)

Would you rather have the guarantee of Quality Health Care, instead of a few extra bucks in your pocket?

And isn’t this what Obama promised anyways, as the way to fund Health Care Reform?  (Rollback the Tax Cuts for the Wealthiest Americans)

SO what are we waiting for?