Despite recent disagreements with conservative members of their caucus, House Democrats will unveil their health care reform bill on Monday, and Ways and Means Committee chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) says they will propose a more than $500 billion tax on Americans making more than $350,000 a year to help finance it.
Between the tax revenue, cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, and other savings–including, perhaps, from a public plan–Democrats should have enough money to cover the cost of the bill, which will likely cost about a trillion dollars. Early indications suggested that the Senate might propose a different tax–on employer-provided health benefits–to cover the remaining costs of reform. But more and more that idea looks dead in the water.
Late update: More detail from Jeff Young of The Hill: “There would be different surtax rates, ranging from 1 percent to 3 percent, for workers with annual earnings of $350,000, $500,000 and $1 million, Rangel said.”
