Obamacare Brings More Taxes to the Middle Class

I wrote this piece, also, for the Eagle Forum Collegians blog. Enjoy!

“If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute. ” –Thomas Paine

No doubt you’ve heard, by now, that the Supreme Court ruled that Obamacare is constitutional as a tax. If you think small businesses and the average American citizen give enough hard-earned money to the government now, take a look at the new or higher taxes the American people and businesses will see within the next ten years:

View the Heritage Foundation article in full here.

The one that stood out most to me is the Flexible Spending Account Cap. Under the Obamacare law, FSA’s will be capped at $2500 (right now, it’s unlimited). As the link above states, this change is going to seriously impact many families with special needs children who use FSA’s to pay for special education. In effect, this poses the opportunity to create more dependency on government.

Without even looking at any of the specifics, though, it’s not difficult to see that Obamacare is quite simply a law that is bad for this country and the average American citizen, especially considering the current economic climate. Aside from the negative aspects of socialized medicine—fewer doctors, longer waits for care and procedures, lower quality care…all the reasons that people from countries like Canada have sought medicinal refuge in the United States because Canadian socialized medicine is so incompetent—Obamacare (or Obamatax, either one…) is a fiscal nightmare. Many of the tax hikes that we will see in the coming years are going to fall upon the middle class (ironic, because Obama pledged to not raise taxes on the middle class in 2008). When jobs are few, times are tough, and families are pinching pennies to get by, what’s the sense in draining more money from them via taxes? If families and individuals have to scrape by to give their “fair share” to the government via taxes, they’re not going to be taking their hard earned paycheck into the private sector economy—Americans won’t be buying goods or investing because with crippling taxes, there is no incentive to, and at times, no opportunity to do so.

Small businesses face daunting taxes, too, and this is undoubtedly going to cost jobs. But we can’t be too surprised, because this administration still can’t comprehend the basic free-market truth that the private sector, not the public sector, creates jobs, grows the economy, and fuels prosperity. As the Heritage Foundation article stated, “All tax increases have negative economic effects because higher taxes take resources from the productive hands of the private sector and transfer them to the wasteful hands of politicians.”

Obamacare/tax isn’t going to improve the healthcare situation in the United States—it’s going to tax us into oblivion and reduce the quality of American medical care, at the same time killing jobs and giving Americans less opportunity or prosperity.

And just for fun…