House Progressives: Labor-White House Excise Tax Deal Helps All Workers

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/5426/house_progressives_say_labor-white_house_excise_deal_helps_all_workers/

Friday January 15 5:00 pm

By Art Levine

Yesterday's breakthrough deal between the White House, labor leaders and congressional leaders on the excise tax on high-cost plans can help all workers and small businesses, not just unions, according to some House progressives and union spokesmen. A progressive Hill source also told In These Times, "The push-back against the excise tax made the White House blink and think about new funding approaches This isn't just for labor: All Americans get relief."

The controversial 40% tax on so-called "Cadillac" plans would have penalized as many as 31 million middle-class families -- without any hard evidence it would either cut costs or raise revenues.

The new proposed deal raises sharply the threshold value of a plan (up to $27,000, possibly more) that can be taxed for high-risk jobs like firemen and policemen; postpones taxing plans reached by collective bargainining and in agreements with state and local workers until 2018; and raises the tax thresholds to reflect higher costs incurred by older and female workers.

Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT), who has been leading the opposition to the tax, said yesterday, "IImportant modifications have been proposed that would help protect working families. Adjustments for older workers, high-cost regions, gender, and supplemental insurance, including dental and vision, sound very promising.” Courtney also said that he'd reserve final judgment on the compromise, but the signals from the Hill today were positive.

One Hill source close to progressive Democrats told In These Times that virtually "All Americans will be affected by the higher thresholds." He pointed out how the changes would lift a burden from "women, seniors and those living in high-cost states." He summed up, "This is a very big deal."

The search for alternative funding sources to make up for the supposed lost revenues -- a chimera based on blind faith that employers would give raises to workers after they cut benefits under the old excise proposal -- now begins in earnest. Among the provisions most likely to be included is a long-overdue Medicare tax on unearned, investment income for the wealthiest Americans.

FULL story at link.