Senate Considers Tax Increases to Fund Healthcare Reforms

June 4, 2009

Today, the Senate Finance Committee released a list of proposals that it has put forth to fund health reform. The following is a laundry list of changes, as reported in the Wall Street Journal:

• Tax health benefits
• Cut back health savings accounts
• Cut back flexible spending accounts
• Standardize definitions of qualified medical expenses
• Cut back the itemized tax deduction for medical expenses
• Reduce or eliminate the special tax deduction for non-profit Blues
• Cut back the FICA tax exemption for students
• Collect Medicare payroll taxes from state and local government employees
• Change rules pertaining to nonprofit hospitals
• Raise taxes on alcoholic beverages
• Tax sugar-sweetened beverages

The aforementioned changes are expected to be discussed and voted upon in the coming weeks.