Jon Christian Ryter's Conservative World

Eagle

Internet Articles (2012)
Internet Articles (2011)
Internet Articles (2010)
Internet Articles (2009)
Internet Articles (2008)
Internet Articles (2007)
Internet Articles (2006)
Internet Articles (2005)
Internet Articles (2004)
Internet Articles (2003)
Internet Articles (2002)
Internet Articles (2001)

From The Mailbag

Tax Armageddon is on its way...Massive
tax increases coming in 2013 may break
the backs of job providers..Expect higher
unemployment and fewer jobs because
of the high court's Obamacare decision.
Politicians always schedule their new tax hikes to take affect after the national elections to make sure they don't catch angry voter backlash from the working class who are always the first to feel the brunt of any tax increase—even if their taxes don't increase. They lose their jobs. Or, as prices skyrocket because the US Treasury in printing and circulating money not backed by anything and it's devaluing the bond-backed dollars in circulation, working class people discover they can't afford to feed their families or put gasoline in their cars to get to and from work—if they still have a job.

On Thursday, June 28 most Americans stopped what they were doing at 10 a.m. to watch as the US Supreme Court announced its decision concerning the constitutionality of Obamacare. Americans held their breath waiting to hear whether or not the individual mandate—which would have forced every person in the country to buy health insurance—was constitutional. If the individual mandate was ruled unconstitutional, it would—or, at least, should have—spelled doom for Obamacare. Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion, found that the individual mandate was unconstitutional because the Commerce Clause in the Constitution does not give Congress the right to punish people for not engaging in commerce. That should have ended Obamacare. Justice Roberts then did what the Constitution does not allow him to do—he rewrote Obamacare as a tax. Clearly, this was something Congress very deliberately avoided doing. No where in the 2,409 pages of HR3200 is Obamacare called a tax. No where in the 2,409 pages is the word "tax" even mentioned. The "fine" in the individual mandate can't be a tax since constitutionally (Article I, Section 2), taxes must be equally apportioned—you can't tax some people for their conduct and not tax everyone. By its nature, John Roberts' "tax" is still a fine—which is what Congress intended. To give Obamacare a semblance of constitutionality, Roberts called a "fine" a tax, and declared it constitutional. Chief Justice John Roberts, in making an accommodation for Obama, violated his oath of office and created an impeachable offense.

By rewriting just one word in the Obamacare language—calling the "individual mandate fine" a tax, Roberts did something no other Supreme Court Justice in the history of the United States has done—he wrote a completely new tax law that did not exist before the high court visited the individual mandate. Congress very deliberately did not intend that the individual mandate be called a tax. The Democrats who voted for it made it clear to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid they would vote it down if the individual mandate was a tax. John Roberts' sleight-of-hand created what in 1775 would have been called "An Intolerable Act." The Intolerable Acts were the catalysts that started the American Revolution.

The high court lacks the prerogative of rewriting legislation. It isn't their job. The role of writing law is the sole prerogative of the Legislative Branch. The sole role of the high court is to determine what Congress intended to do through the language of the law, and rule accordingly.) Congress fully intended that the individual mandate to be enforced with a fine for nonparticipation. Once the individual mandate was found to be unconstitutional, the high court had only one recourse open to them—striking the mandate from the law. This was not a matter of judicial discretion by Roberts. Roberts very deliberately went out of his way to very specifically help Barack Obama save Obamacare through political meddling. .

Roberts wrote a new tax law by changing one word. That one word has a one trillion dollar price tag. What's more, the health insurance tax, assessed on those who refuse to purchase health insurance, will impact low income families. But, that's only the start. Here are some of the new taxes which h would have died with Obamacare, that John Roberts—who has no taxing authority—just passed on to the American people. You might say his one word tax law has a price tag of about one and a half trillion dollars and growing. The new taxes emanating from Obamare below were found in one day. I expect they actually present less than 5% of the new taxes birthed by the illicit relationship between John Roberts and Barack Obama.

• Employer Mandate Excise Tax • If an employer does not pay 72.5% of a single employee's health insurance premium (65% of a family employee), the employer will be hit with an excise tax equal to 8% of his employees average wages. No exemptions for those earning less than $250 thousand.

• Obamacare Tax on the value of company paid health insurance • In addition to the above, the IRS will require employers to include the dollar value of the healthcare benefits they contribute to their employees healthcare package as income on their W-2. In the past, employees were not taxed on the money they paid for health insurance. Think of this new tax as a double-whammy on the working class. No exemption for those earning less than $250 thousand.

• Individual Mandate Surtax • If the employee chooses not to take offered insurance, or enrolls under Obamacare, he or she will be charged an income surtax equal to the lesser of 2.5% of his/her adjusted gross income, or the average premium of the insurance he/she declined. The surtax will be phased in over a three-year period beginning in 2014. The tax will be the greater of $95 or 1/2% of your income that year. In 2015 the surtax will raise to the greater of $750 or 2% of your income. Also going into affect in 2014 is a fine against the business owner who provides insurance but not "adequate" in the eyes of HHS. The fine will between $750 and $2,000 per employee (with the first 30 employees exempted from the levy). No exemptions for those earning less than $250 thousand.

• Medicine Cabinet Tax • Non-prescription medications can no longer be purchased from Health Savings Accounts (which are currently deductible). No exemptions for those earning less than $250 thousand.

• Lower deduction allowed on Medical Expenses • The deduction for out-of-pocket medical expenses has been reduced. This will likely cut your out-of-pocket medical expenses deduction in half. In the past, medical expenses the exceed 7.5% of the adjusted gross income could be deducted. Now you can only deduct medical expenses that exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income (losing about 25% of those deductions). No exemptions for those earning less than $250 thousand.

• Caps on Flexible Spending Accounts • (aka Special Needs Kids Tax) Obamacare imposes a cap on FSAs at $2,500.00 (previously unlimited under federal tax law). This tax will be extremely punishing on parents of "special needs children." The National Child Research Center said that these special needs costs can easily exceed $14,000 or more per year. No exemptions for those earning less than $250 thousand.

•Obamacare Indoor Tanning Salon Tax • (This tax is already in force.) Americans using the services of indoor tanning salons face a 10% excise tax. No exemptions for those earning less than $250 thousand.

• Health Savings Account Withdrawals • This provision, which will hit your income tax filing for 2012 earnings, increases non-medical early withdrawals from 10% to 20%. (IRA early withdrawals remain at 10$.). No exemptions for those earning less than $250 thousand.

• Obamacare Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans • Obamacare imposes a 40% tax on what are known as "Cadillac Health Insurance Plans." ($10,200-single/$27,50-family) Higher thresholds exist for early retirees and those in high-risk professions. No exemptions for those earning less than $250 thousand. (Since this tax hits substantial campaign donors, it does not go into affect until 2018 when Democrats believe Republicans will be blamed for it.)

• Surtax on Individuals and Small Business • Now this tax is on individuals and businesses making $1 million or more (or, $500 thousand for a single filer). The surtax is 5.4% on your adjusted gross income. This surtax actually targets sole proprietor and family-owned small businesses. This tax is a jobs killer. Adding the new taxes (above) with this tax, not only will many of the nation's economic backbone small businesses not be hiring this year or next (if Obama steals his way back into the White House) expect to see a 10% to 15% cutback in employees in the nation's workforce over the next 12 to 18 months. This will happen because no one knows how Obamacare is going to impact the work place, and small businesses that have been just scrapping by over the past three years will begin making the cuts they need to make to personally survive Obama. A small business that supports five to ten employees and grosses $500 thousand in adjusted gross income sales is paying everyone not much more than minimum wage. Taking 5.4% off the top reduces the AGI of that business means $27,000 more in taxes goes to Obama. That surtax is likely more than that business owner is paying any of his or her employees.

• Obamacare Denial of Tax Deduction for Employer Health Plan for Medicare Part D • Employers offsetting the cost of older employers using Medicare Part D (Prescription Coverage) will erode private sector participation, dropping the total cost of Medicare prescription coverage on the employee. No exemptions for those earning less than $250 thousand.

• Obamacare Excise Tax on Medicare-covered Medicare Devises • Manufacturers will be forced to pay an excise tax on equal to 2.5% of the wholesale price of medical devises they sell to hospitals, pharmacies, etc. No exemptions for small medical devises manufacturers earning $250 thousand or less.

• Surtax on Investment Income • Obamacare creates a new 3.8% tax on investment income in households making at least $250 thousand ($200 thousand single). This tax includes incomes earned not only from investments, but from annuities, royalties, rents and what the IRS calls "passive income" from Sub-chapter-S corporations.

• Obamacare Limitation on Tax Treaty Benefits • Increases the taxes of every US employer with an overseas operation who previously only had to pay taxes on goods manufactured in the United States.

• Code change in "Economic Substance Doctrine • Allows the IRS, at will, to disallow perfectly legal tax deductions or other tax relief simply because the IRS feels the "motive" of the taxpayer was not primarily business related. (This code change specifically targets "S" corporations and sole proprietorships [small business owners)—the job creators.

• Hike in Medicare Payroll Tax • There is a $86.8 billion hike in Medicare payroll taxes going into affect in January, 2013. The employer part of the tax remains the same at 1.45%, but the employee "contribution" (on the first $200,000 of income] increases from 1.45% to to 2.35%).

Remember what Barack Obama said when he was campaigning for the White House in 2008—and remember what he continues to parrot today, running for election in 2012 (I cannot honestly saying "running for reelection" because when you steal 35 million votes to get the keys to the White House in 2008, I don't think you can call Obama's hope of winning his first genuine victory can be termed "reelection" But, back to the point. Obama's primary campaign promises in 2008 and again in 2012: "I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250 thousand a year will see any form of tax increase. Not on your payroll tax. Not on your capital gains taxes. Not on any of your taxes. If you earn less than a quarter million dollars a year you will not see your taxes increase a single dime." And, true to his word, no one's taxes were raised by a dime. Just 16 days after his inauguration, Obama hiked the tax on cigarettes by 156%. But then, in fairness, he never promised not to raise the tax on your smokes. In case you're wondering—the median income of US smokers is $37,000—about $213 thousand below Obama's no new taxes pledge. The only thing he didn't say was "Read my lips." Well, for whatever it's worth, once again, you have my two cents worth on this subject. Until next time...