The Senate GOP leadership has a health care plan. It would eliminate the Affordable Care Act mandate that requires individuals to have, and businesses to offer, insurance. It would cut federal Medicaid funding and phase out Medicaid expansion over three years starting in 2020. It retains tax credits to help subsidize insurance premiums, though using a different model than either the ACA or the House bill. Vox’s Sarah Kliff has a nice summary here. The CBO expects to score the plan early next week. Senate conservatives already are demanding changes but Majority Leader Mitch McConnell still hopes to bring the plan to the floor for a vote by the end of next week.
About those ACA taxes. TPC’s Howard Gleckman notes that the Senate leadership proposal would repeal them, much as the House bill did. It would ditch the 3.8 percent net investment income tax and the 0.9 percent Medicare surtax for individuals making $200,000 or more (couples making $250,000). It would also repeal a long list of ACA taxes on health-related businesses. High income households would get most of the benefits, as they would under the House plan.
Speaking of Medicaid: Oregon’s Governor Kate Brown will sign a bill raising health care provider taxes. The state legislature passed a $670 million health care tax package aimed at preserving Medicaid benefits and keeping open a new psychiatric hospital. The provider taxes would raise almost $900 million, helping to fill a $1.4 billion-hole in the state's 2017-19 budget. The state must balance its budget by July 10.
Small businesses seem to want tax reform, says new survey. CNBC and SurveyMonkey have conducted a survey of small businesses. “Taxes” is the number one issue for 25 percent of 2,000 businesses that responded. The cost of health insurance and government regulations ranked second, while federal taxes on business income ranked Number Three. The White House says it wants to tax corporations and pass-through businesses at the same 15 percent rate.
Delaware lawmakers say they need to raise taxes. The state’s House Revenue and Finance Committee just approved measures to do so. One would raise income taxes by $68 million by creating a new top bracket for those earning $150,000 or more, eliminating itemized deductions, and increasing tax rates for nearly all state residents. A second measure would raise alcohol taxes by $5.2 million in the next fiscal year and $7.1 million in the year after that. Opponents question whether the potential impact on the alcoholic beverage industry would be worth the small revenue gain.
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