Tax News

CCH (cch.taxgroup.com) reports:

  The America's Affordable Health Choices Bill of 2009 (HR 3200) was approved by the House Ways and Means Committee early on July 17. By a vote of 23 to 18, the committee approved a plan to overhaul the nation's health care system and impose a surtax of $544 billion on wealthier taxpayers. The next step for the legislation will be to go to the House Rules Committee, where it will be amended again before heading to the House floor.

  Three Democrats, Reps. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D, Ron Kind, D-Wis., and John Tanner, D-Tenn., voted with the Republicans against the measure. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters that Democratic leaders are still negotiating to win support from the conservative members of the House Blue Dog Coalition, as well as freshmen Democratic lawmakers.

  In addition, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has yet to release a cost estimate of the bill. GOP lawmakers questioned how Democrats could support a 1,018-page health care reform bill when even preliminary CBO estimates show it will increase the federal budget deficit by $1 trillion over 10 years. Pelosi has promised that the bill will be paid for by Medicare and Medicaid cost containment provisions as well as the surtax on the wealthy.

  Under HR 3200, approximately $544 billion in revenues would be raised through a surtax of 5.4 percent on married individuals with adjusted gross income (AGI) over $1 million beginning in 2011; a 1.5-percent surtax on incomes between $500,000 and $1 million; and a 1-percent surtax on incomes from $350,000 to $500,000. The measure is expected to be considered by the full House before the August recess.

  By Stephen K. Cooper, CCH News Staff

Ways and Means Committee Press Release: Ways and Means Passes Historic Health Reform Legislation

House Ways and Means Committee Release: America's Affordable Health Choices Act Section-by-Section Analysis (Updated to Include Changes in the Amendment in Nature of a Substitute)