Firefighters Whack McCain for Taxing Benefits

Come on ABC, instead of Firefighters Whack McCain for Taxing Benefits it should read “Firefighters BURN McCain for Taxing Benefits”

The average health insurance costs about $12,000. Employees will have to pay social security taxes and have income taxes withheld from this amount. This extra $12,000 would raise many tax payers into the 22% rate plus social security taxes, making the additional tax of $3,000.
Employers will also have to pay payroll taxes with can easily exceed $1,000, a tax they do not have to pay currently.
Employers will now be paying for the health insurance AND an additional tax of $1,000. Many employers will stop paying for health insurance because it will cost too much, therefore making the employee pay for the health insurance out of their own pocket.
Explain to this CPA how this is a good deal for either the employee or employer?

As a person with cancer, after really investigating McCain’s healthcare plan, I nearly fell out of my chair. It stinks. At some point, all the healthy workers would leave their employer-sponsored healthcare plan, and an employer would be left with older, sicker workers. My healthcare would be taxed to essentially benefit the people who could leave the system and get healthcare out in the marketplace, while I cannot leave my group coverage, because no insurance plan would insure me. And, at some point, alot of employers would simply drop healthcare as a benefit, because premiums would rise dramatically with a risk pool full of people like myself. Also, I really don’t believe a tax credit of $2,500 and $5,000 respectively will pay for an individual policy out there in the marketplace. Another example of a plan supported by McCain that shows no real understanding of the private marketplace, since McCain himself has been taken care of his entire career by the federal government (military VA benefits and federal employees insurance).

Finally working class people are realizing (slowly) that the GOP is not the party w/ the best interests of working people in mind! Some stragglers remain like Joe the Plumber. He might vote against Obama, but I can guarentee you it’s because of taxes!

dem in Chicago: “He might vote against Obama, but I can guarentee you it’s because of taxes!”
And then only because he doesn’t understand taxes – the policies we have now nor the policies proposed by Obama.

Why aren’t I seeing these ads in Minnesota and Wisconsin?
I was in Montana recently and I didn’t see any good ads their either.

powmadeak47 ,
Don’t be such a sucka for the polls, which by the way are specifically designed to sculpt public opinion.
NOTE TO BRAIN: This is going to be a landslide.
So, don’t get caught up in the polls by following Ouiji board numbers.
POTUS OBAMA – IT’S A LOCK

Nat, it will be a lock when Obama gets to 270. Only two weeks – I suggest we assume nothing.
McCain still has a scenario left in which he can win. He holds everywhere he’s up, and wins everything once considered a toss-up, even the ones now considered by some to be leaning Obama.
Its not likely, but let’s not assume it isn’t possible.

Great post Paul,
In essence, McCain is trying to save a toe in PA, but losing his whole leg in North Carolina. Add another leg in Virginia. An arm in Colorado. The other arm in Nevada.
There you have it!
“The Headless McChicken”
HE WILL CRUSHED via both popular vote and electoral. First and only landslide POTUS election this generation.
POTUS OBAMA – IT’S A LOCK!

Ad misleadingly accuses John McCain of taxing health insurance for the first time, leading to the largest middle-class tax increase in history. In reality, the tax code will subsidize — not tax — health insurance both before and after the McCain reforms.
It is true that the reform will make that subsidy more fair — providing the same help to rich and poor regardless of the source of their insurance. This is a powerful way to reduce the number of uninsured, which is why even Sen. Obama’s own economic policy adviser has advocated for a refundable tax credit like the one proposed by Sen. McCain. And there is no tax increase.
A final ad accuses Sen. McCain of sending the tax credit straight to insurance companies. American families can choose which policy best fits their family, and the insurance company that provides it. At that point, the funds will be transferred to the insurance company of their choice.
The flood of distorting ads is apparently intended to change the subject from Barack Obama’s plan. He will mandate that parents cover their children and fine them if they don’t. He will mandate employers provide the insurance Barack Obama dictates, or face a fine if they don’t. He refuses to explain either fine, and his top health adviser recently told the Wall Street Journal that they have no plans to come clean before the election.
Barack Obama’s plan will cause almost 50 million Americans to lose the health coverage they currently have. It has been estimated to cost more than $240 billion annually — a financial burden of more than $3,000 per American family.
When the kids and employees are forced into the government-run plan, America will be closer to the government-run, single-payer health-care system Barack Obama has said he wished America had.
Health care reform is too important an issue to limit to 30 second sound-bites. But when a presidential candidates’ plan does as much damage to the existing health-care system as Sen. Obama’s, it’s understandable why he would want to avoid talking about it.

YOu all should maybe get a clue .. check out the facts. this is a blown out attempt to hinder McCain. It has been proved and shown on factfinder that is is all bougus.. come on…. NOW who is Running the negitive ads…THe same person who has all along and now one has the balls to say it..Don’t be uninformed… check the facts…

http://www.aniboom.com/video/288554/breaking-news/

Well Obuma can send in his clown!!
I think the most ‘telling ‘ (foreshadowing ) statement Biden made was , “And he’s gonna need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna need is, he’s gonna need you – not financially to help him – we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.”
This can be summed up to simply state “get ready , America ’cause you’re not going to like what we are getting ready to do to you !”
————————–
THIS REALLY SOUNDS LIKE A WARM UP FOR THE DRAFT!

HP: “THIS REALLY SOUNDS LIKE A WARM UP FOR THE DRAFT!”
Now there’s some creative connecting of the dots.
I thought Biden was hinting at us scrapping our currency for Euros, lol.

Actually Biden is prepping us for the moment on Jan 21, when President Obama reveals to us all that he really is an alien ambassador from the planet Xununu.

McCain won’t win VA. Even in the parts of the state Palin claims ‘real america’ they don’t like them two either.. I live in those parts of VA Lynchburg as a matter of fact Jerry Falwells town (thank God he’s not here; he would have ran his mouth the whole election) and no one around here is talking good about McCain.. most people say he’s a scam artist lol

Fact is everyone agrees the U.S. health care system is flat-out broken. But taxing health care benefits is stupid bureaucratic gobbledy gook, that would make things even worse. There is only one area in which it’s even semi-functional and that is in regard to employees who have their health care provided at work. McCain’s plan would not only do nothing to fix the health care crisis it would throw employer provided health care into total chaos with tax of benefits, subsidies and other such mumbo-jumbo. It’s a confusing sham. Don’t be fooled. McCain would wreck the only part of the present health care system that functions somewhat decently.

In 1931, facing an economic crisis as our nation was entrenched in a 2 year recession, our government abandoned the traditions of our nation and in a bold populist move an unpopular president in Herbert Hoover called upon Congress to raise corporate income taxes and raise personal income tax rates. As a result, the corporate tax rate jumped nearly 15%, estate taxes were nearly doubled and individual income taxes were increased, with the top tax rate increasing from 25% to 63%. To this date, the 1932 Revenue Act is the largest peacetime tax increase in US history; that is until the proposal put forth by Senator Obama.
The Revenue Act of 1932 was first proposed in 1931 and would not be enacted until June 6th, 1932. At the beginning of 1932, Unemployement rested at an astonishing 15.9% and GNP in 1931 had fallen by 8.5%.
Senator Obama’s tax plans are nearly identical to those of the 1932 Revenue Act, whereas Estate Taxes would jump exponentially, the second highest corporate tax rate in the world would become the highest and personal income taxes would jump substantially for millions of small business owners and workers across the nation. Obama’s tax proposals would represent the largest revenue based tax increase in US history .
So how successful was President Hoover’s tax increase?
In the second half of 1932 the economy completely collapsed in the United States. By the November elections, unemployment had jumped an astonishing to an astonishing 23.6% and the GNP fell a record 13.4%. In March of 1933 the nation would face a third banking crisis prompting Roosevelt to declare a National Bank Holiday to halt the run on financial institutions. By the end of 1933 GNP would continue to fall and unemployment would reach a record 24.9% as one out of every four Americans would be without a job. Roosevelt would rely upon heavy deficit spending in an attempt to keep the country afloat. Yet, at the end of 1938, our nation would still suffer under a 19.0% unemployment rate.

A message to the Kool-Aid drunk Obama Nation (hereafter KADON)
KADON, I think that you might be able to grasp the idea that few earn over $250,000 without a little help, a little help from, well, employees. Now, for simplicity, lets refer to those as employers, whether they be rich individuals or corporations. Enterprises run by wealthy individuals or corporations, KADON, may well, not be the only supplier of the products/services they offer. They may well compete against many suppliers, even some from abroad, even some from abroad having certain cost advantages. These cost advantages, KADON, could be wages, raw material prices or, they could be tax expenses. That is right taxes are expenses, to employers, wealthy or not. Now, lets think about those U.S. corporations that are fighting for their life (please read this also to be fighting for the existence of the jobs that they offer, to employees, in the U.S.). Many corporations maintain physical presence in both the U.S. and the abroad. Now, hypothetically, if, their operations in the U.S. face an 80% tax rate on profits, while their Malaysian operations face only a 15% tax rate, then do you see, how it makes economic sense, for the employer, to think it is likely a very good decision to move operations from Ohio to Malaysia? Now, it will be more subtle, the tax rates aren’t nearly as different, but they are different. Then, they might just stop hiring in Ohio and hire only in Malaysia. In any case, there are some in Ohio who might either be laid off or not hired.
Regardless, even though your dear candidate will offer 95% of all Americans a lower tax rate, those laid off because their rich employer had to shift jobs overseas, still have no job. They’ll be baffled 3 years from now. Maybe they’ll say, I should have said thanks, but no thanks Senator on that tax plan to nowhere.
So KADON, understand this simple lesson. The wealthy employ. If changes occur to the cost structure in their operations, including tax expenses, they will be incented to react, if they don’t they may find themselves at a cost advantage sufficient to erode their economic viability on a permanent basis, or at least until they cease to exist, in which case, nobody has a paycheck from them.
Ok, rich American corporations, lets assume that our above corporation is not struggling, lets say that it is called Exxon. Well, KADON, Exxon produces some energy in America, using American employees to do so. America is not a cheap place to produce energy. What, do you think Exxon will do, when President Obamba raises, as he likes to say so often, taxes on corporations that export jobs overseas? You got it! They’ll divest (reads: send to the unemployment lines) their American energy production operations.
The final thing that I want you to grasp KADON, is that when President Obama puts millions of Americans, formerly employed by corporations, onto the unemployment line, they will not, unless Ms. Pelosi redistributes wealth and gives them a nice fat welfare check, have any money to buy the goods and services offered by all small businesses, including those that he claims he will not tax additionally. Small business owners will be baffled too. President Obama, thanks for not taxing my income additionally, but, it is nowhere near $232k, as it was before you took office, it is $104k, what happened? I drank the Kook-aid! I promise I did. I had to lay off 2 employees because demand is so weak for my products, because so many corporate types have been laid off.
Is it sinking in?
One final thing, I hate to burst the bubble of all of you out there that have drank Mr. Obama’s kool-aid, but when he says “tax cuts for employers that export jobs overseas”, he isn’t really referring to Republican led legislation that actually instructed the IRS to give a tax credit to all corporations that actually did export jobs. What he is really referring to is Republican led legislation that incented corporations to not export jobs, by giving them a tax cut, but, even though the tax cuts were given, jobs were still exported, because the tax cuts weren’t sufficient, for some, to allow them to maintain their U.S. employment. This is yet another aspect that Mr. Gibson, Ms. Couric, MSNBC, etc. have failed to present to the American public. Shame on them!
I hope that this helps you all with your future pOstings, here and elsewhere.

Ang,
Not really looking to debate a moron, wouldn’t mind cleansing you all of your stupidity. I’m posting only to get the attention of those with common sense.
Here, put down the Kool-aid and read through this re; tax on healthcare benefits.
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/19ba2f1c-c03f-4ac2-8cd5-5cf2edb527cf.htm
I hope it helps you and your future postings.
ps, you appear real young, judging by your postings, shouldn’t you get out of the dorm and go to class?

Two weeks from today, Americans will be asked to cast their vote for the next president of the United States. There’s no time to wait. Let’s get right to it.
Did you hear what Senator Biden said at a fundraiser on Sunday? He guaranteed that if Barack Obama is elected, we’ll face an international crisis within the first six months of their administration. He told Democrat donors to mark his words – that there were “at least four or five scenarios” that would place our country at risk in an Obama administration. Thanks for the warning, Joe!
He didn’t specify what all those four or five scenarios will be, but for clues, let’s review the Obama foreign policy agenda.
Our opponent wants to sit down with the world’s worst dictators. With no preconditions, he proposes to meet with a regime in Teheran that vows to “wipe Israel off the map.” Let’s call that crisis scenario number one.
Senator Obama has also advocated sending our U.S. military into Pakistan without the approval of the Pakistani government. Invading the sovereign territory of a troubled partner in the war against terrorism. We’ll call that scenario number two.
He opposed the surge strategy that has finally brought victory in Iraq within sight. He’s voted to cut off funding for our troops, leaving our young men and women at grave risk. He wants to pull out, leaving some 25 million Iraqis at the mercy of Iranian-supported Shiite extremists and al Qaeda in Iraq. By his own admission, this could mean our troops would have to go back to Iraq. Crisis scenario number three.
After the Russian army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama’s reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence – the kind of response that would only encourage Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine next. That would be crisis scenario number four.
But I guess the looming crisis that most worries the Obama campaign right now is Joe Biden’s next speaking engagement. Let’s call that crisis scenario number five.
The real problem is that these warnings from Joe Biden are similar to his earlier assessment of Barack Obama. It wasn’t so long ago that he said Barack Obama wasn’t up to the job, and that, quote, “the presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.”
The same Joe Biden said he would be honored to run on the ticket with John McCain because, quote, “the country would be better off.” And here we have some common ground. I want a president who spent 22 years in uniform defending our country. I want a president who isn’t afraid to use the word “victory” when he talks about the wars we are fighting. I want a president who’s ready on Day One. I want a president with the experience and the judgment and the wisdom to meet the next international crisis – or better yet to avoid it. I want John McCain as our commander-in-chief.

Taxes 101 for Democrats – here’s a little simple business sense for you.
The Republicans claim higher taxes on upper ends of the progressive scale stifle growth. They say it so often its almost become a truism.
The reverse is true.
The reason is that companies will have more incentive to not show profits, and they do this by investing back in themselves, which tends to cause company expansion.
When you have an incentive to take profits out of a company, some people will. They will grow their business more slowly for the sake of immediate lifestyle advantages.

In addition to everything they forgot to say, is the fact that:
1) average individual market family coverage plan if $5.8K, while group market family coverage plan is $9.7K. So employers (and employees) are paying more for their insurance plans on whole. Employer plans may cover more, but many of these “covered items” are also things that don’t apply to the general group population – ex., fertility services.
2) Health care costs have risen 25% since 2000, wages a fraction of that. So you’re getting “taxed” in one sense now – lower wages to pay for your insurance plan. Plus, the economy/country as a whole pays with lessened investment in growth and with lower employment increases.
3) Making insurance affordable (which arguably both Obama and McCain do) is only part of the problem. With insurance, the health consumer is outside the price “negotiations” and supply/demand is broken. Moving people away from employer plans to individual plans is a first step in breaking down the system that allows insurance cos/medical providers to increase rates/drive profitability, while consumers are stuck with the bills.

“Senator Obama’s tax plans are nearly identical to those of the 1932 Revenue Act.”
Actually, his tax rates are more similar to what we had after the Reagan cuts were enacted.

The firefighters may have better insurance under Obama but they will also watch their taxes go up to support those who don’t want to work and who think this country owes them something. Obama’s leftist illuminati views are being packaged as a new direction for America, but that direction is going to be anywhere but up.

Marythedesigner,
What nonsense. Senator Obama has an IQ of 166-171 and has led a very accomplished life. To see his resume go to http://obamasresume.org/
You watch Fox News don’t you.

Both: “If you’re in the 60s, don’t skip over the Dems opposition to the Civil Rights Act…”
Yeah, but all those Democrats switched to the Republican Party, and they formed the core of the GOP’s then new stronghold in sourthern states.
Pretty dumb argument for anyone hoping to promote today’s GOP and criticize today’s Democrats.

McPain’s Ailin’
he’s proven to be a dishonorable lieing p.o.s..
clueless on all fronts
loose cannon
mean and out of control
he’s OLD OLD OLD.
crank old fart
but a scumbag ta’boot
perfect for the “real ‘murica” voter – who consistently vote themselves deeper and deeper into a hole with r-wing “policies”.
President Obama – sounds great , we are looking fwd to your leadership sir.
good day people

McCain the hypocrite rails on Obama about raising taxes on the rich and states why raise taxes on anybody in this economic enviroment? But hypocrite McCain has no problem TAXING health care benefits. You just can’t trust anything republicans said because they’ll say anything to get elected. Then they’ll continue to ignore struggling americans while kissing the feet of corporations and the wealthy.

We need a strong third party in this nation. Both sides of aisle like to tax us they just do it in different ways.

As someone forced to belong to the International Association of Firefighters, I can assure that the majority of the members DO NOT support Obama. Like most labor unions, a good and noble concept has been hijacked by socialists and corrupted. If Obama wins watch for the payback to big labor, not the members the leadership. They will enrich themseles at their members expense, once again. The IAFF executive board pushed through their own golden parachute at the convention this summer in Vegas. After 12 years of service, they will recieve 80% of their salary for life, with survivor benifits,upon retirement. Their contribution, $0, nada, nothing. Not bad, works out to over $150,000 a year for the president. This with members facing layoffs and benefit reductions, union leaders are just as greedy as any CEO. No alot of us wll vote onmoral and ethical issues, not who promises us the most handouts.

If Joe the Plumber thinks he can’t afford to buy the business under Obama’s tax plan then he really needs to consult a good accountant. Obama’s plan lowers taxes on the first $250,000 Joe makes. On the money over $250,000, Joe would pay 39% under Obama, instead of the 36% he now pays. That’s 3% more taxes, not exactly break-the-bank if you have already made $250,000 at a low rate. In fact, if Joe makes $280,000 then his taxes will only go up $900 a year (that’s 3% of $30,000, the amount over $250,000). Plus, Obama will give him a $1,000 tax credit for every job he creates, and tax credits for every employee that he provides health insurance for. Under Obama’s plan, Joe’s business will actually pay LESS TAX than it does now, as long as he has even just one employee.
McCain’s plan will tax the first $250,000 at a the current rate, then drop the taxes on anything over $250,000 by an unspecified amount. McCain’s plan does not give him a tax credit for every job he creates. If he provides health care for his employees he will now have to deduct yet another tax from their paychecks, adding administrative burden to his company. Not to mention that Joe will have to pay this tax himself on his personal income, which amounts to an extra $4,200 a year he pays in taxes (35% of the $12,000 a typical policy costs). And if his company does not provide health care, he and his employees will have to pay individually for their health insurance (average cost $12,000 per year), they’ll get a $5,000 tax credit under McCain, but be out of pocket at least $7,000 per year for their policy. Either way, Joe will pay MORE taxes under McCain’s plan.
does this man think we are stupid enough to fall for his tactical taxcut and strategic financial devastation? why does he keep assuming that we can’t do our math?