Despite President Obama’s promise not to raise taxes on Americans making less than $250,000 a year, the health care legislation that passed three committees in the House last month includes tax hikes on middle class families making far less, as well as job-killing tax hikes on small businesses:

• Pages 143-167, Section 311; Pages 179-188, Section 411-412; and Pages 197-204, Section 441 – Massive new taxes included in the bill would devastate the economy, put millions of Americans out of work, and make it hard for others to find work.  Using the same methodology developed by Dr. Christina Romer, Chair of the Council on Economic Advisors, and Jared Bernstein, Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser to Vice President Joseph Biden, these sorts of a tax increases would result in as many as 5.5 million Americans losing their job.
• Pages 149 and 183; Sections 313 and 412 – The bill imposes a new eight percent payroll tax on: employers who can’t afford to offer health insurance to their employees; employers who do the right thing and offer health coverage to their employees but it’s deemed “insufficient” by the government; employers who offer “sufficient” coverage but the employee enrolls in coverage elsewhere (e.g. coverage through a spouse’s employer); and employers who aren’t paying at least 72.5 percent of an employee’s premium (65 percent for family coverage).
• Pages 823-835; Section 1802 – The bill would establish a new tax on every health insurance policy to fund a government board that would be tasked with deciding which treatments are more cost-effective.  The research findings would be used by the government to ration care.  This new tax will increase the cost of health insurance for every American not on Medicare or Medicaid, regardless of income.
• Pages 167-169; Section 401 – The House Democrats’ bill would impose a new tax on individuals of almost 2.5 percent of their income if they don’t purchase health insurance the government deems acceptable.  Then-Senator Obama stated during the presidential campaign that “Middle class families will see their taxes cut – and no family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes increase.”  Yet, section 401 (individual mandate) violates the President’s pledge by taxing families making less than $250,000 per year.

What will it take for out-of-touch Washington Democrats to get the message?  Will they finally begin to work on the real, bipartisan reform to lower health care costs for the American people?