SPOTLIGHT: EXCISING THE EXCISE?
Union leaders said yesterday that they have reached a tentative
agreement to exempt collectively bargained health care plans from an
excise tax on high-cost, employer-provided insurance plans that is
included in the Senate's health care bill. The deal was struck between
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka,
Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern and United
Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger. Exemptions for collectively
bargained plans would mollify unions -- which often bargain for generous
health plans instead of higher wages -- and would allow President Obama
to keep his pledge not to impose taxes on people whose annual incomes
are less than $200,000. Obama has expressed a preference for the excise
tax over an alternative revenue-raising proposal in the House bill to
levy a surtax on individuals with annual incomes greater than $500,000
and couples with annual income exceeding $1 million. House Ways and
Means Committee Chair Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) said he hopes an agreement
can be reached on the excise tax during
a meeting today involving congressional leaders and Obama.
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