More Big Labor Angst over Obamacare

October 11, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, Unions, Warner Todd Huston |

-By Warner Todd Huston

It is often portrayed by the Old Media that Big Labor is lining up behind Obamacare with gusto. While many unions are doing just that, the not all unions are so happy with Congress’ current plans. We discussed this last month when we reported that the various propositions to tax so-called Cadillac healthcare plans has gotten some unions nervous.

Now, 157 House Democrats have sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi (D, Calif.) declaring their opposition to taxing high-end healthcare plans. One of those reasons is that many unions have given away pay raises in order to enlarge their benefits packages and such a tax will hit union members hard.

Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., who organized the petition, said the tax would hurt too many middle-class people in addition to the wealthier people it is intended to hit.

“This would have an impact far wider than just the Paris Hiltons of the world,” Courtney told reporters Wednesday.

Leading the charge against these tax plans is the AFL-CIO. As IBD reports:

But Big Labor has cried foul and is lobbying hard against it. Gerry Shea, the AFL-CIO’s top expert on health care policy, says such taxes would hit the plans obtained by union members via collective bargaining.

Union members gave up wages to get broad, comprehensive health care plans, Shea says. They don’t deserve to be taxed for that now, he argues.

“There are a lot of ways to pay for health reform — fairer and better ways — than asking people of moderate incomes to pay for it this way,” Shea told IBD, citing Obama’s earlier, now-discarded proposal to limit itemized tax deductions.

“The fact that they are doing it totally through this excise tax just seems totally unfair,” Shea said.

If a tax on high-end healthcare plans is scrapped, however, the supposed revenue neutral aspect of the bills will be in question. In the Senate, the Baucus “excise tax” on such plans is expected to raise $201 billion over 10 years. Without it, the Congressional Budget Office says that the bill will increase the deficit by $120 billion.

This would go entirely against the president’s claim that he won’t sign the bill since it will add to the deficit.

(Cross posted at HealthcareHorseRace.com.)
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as NewsBusters.org, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, TheRealityCheck.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, and the New Media Journal, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. Warner is also the editor of the Cook County Page for RedCounty.com.

He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston

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