“Fees” Are Taxes and New Taxes Are Not the Answer

Stuart Butler / September 08, 2009

According to a New York Times story on Sunday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) plans to propose a new “fee” on insurance companies to help pay for a costly liberal health reform package. This “fee” would allow Congress to penalize their straw man du jour, insurance companies, while attempting to pay for part of one of the trillion dollar proposals being debated in Congress this week. However, these “fees” are nothing more than taxes hidden behind a thin veil of “fairness” rhetoric. They would actually fall on ordinary Americans, not insurance executives or stockholders.

The idea of hiding a tax on families as a penalty on greedy insurers is not new. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) proposed this idea earlier this year, as did Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator John D. Rockefeller (D-WV). Not exactly a moderate gang of four. Senator Schumer said the health insurance companies should “pay their fair share” and Senator Rockefeller accused insurance companies of “…rapaciously, greedily and unstoppably making money…” So does this idea have merit? No. A few liberal Senators attempting to redistribute corporate wealth to fit their idea of “fairness” in reality means more regressive taxes passed down to you the consumer. (more…)