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House Health Care Plan Would Boost Taxes on Rich

By ROBERT PEAR and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Published: July 14, 2009
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Republicans have asserted that the bill would raise taxes for millions of middle-income families. But Democrats said their proposal, which calls for a new surcharge or surtax, would affect “only 1.2 percent of all households in the United States.”

The surtax would apply at graduated rates ranging from 1 percent to 5.4 percent to families with annual adjusted gross incomes of more than $350,000 and individuals making more than $280,000.

Starting in 2011, a family making $500,000 would have to pay $1,500 of additional tax to help subsidize coverage for the uninsured. A family making $1 million would have to contribute $9,000. These taxes would rise significantly in 2013 if the federal government did not achieve specified savings in Medicare, Medicaid and other health programs.

On the other side of the Capitol, after more than three weeks of work, the Senate health committee was poised to become the first panel to approve comprehensive health legislation. But the Senate Finance Committee is still hunting for ways to pay for it all, and the chairman of the committee does not have the bipartisan support he has been seeking for months.

The House bill would create a new government-run health plan, starting in 2013, and would require employers to help pay for coverage of their workers.