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Death and Taxes...or Taxed to Death?
Only two things we're certain of: death and taxes. Or being taxed to death...
The recent House Democrats' proposal to raise $550 billion over the next 10 years by increasing taxes disproportionately on the nation's wealthiest earners seems to be the approach gaining most traction -- for now. If it comes down to an either/or type of situation -- that is, to increase employers' payroll taxes in a "play or pay" scenario or to increase individuals' tax burden -- it's most likely that individuals will be paying more taxes in years to come, perhaps as high as 45 percent for the richest Americans.
The real kicker here is that this may not be an either/or deal. The $550 billion over 10 years is only expected to cover about half of the cost of health-care reform. So, employers and wealthy individuals may both be made to cover the cost. Which begs the real question: why would we be willing to add $1 trillion to the already over-bloated cost of buying health care in this country?
As I have stated before in these pages, we need to think in terms of health-care reform as distinct, but inseparable from, health-care transformation. Folks much smarter than I who have analyzed the state of U.S. health care have determined that about a third of what we are spending, or approximately $800 billion annually, is, in the aggregate, muda. Muda is a fantastic Japanese word, by the way, a favorite amongst the "lean transformation" crowd. It sounds like what it represents: waste. ("Oooh... Look there! Muda! Sure glad I didn't step in it!") So anyway, why would we want to raise taxes, whether payroll or individual, to perpetuate such inefficient health-care spending?
In a perfect world we'd penalize neither employers nor the wealthy but instead strive to emulate the best Lean practices from places like ThedaCare in Appleton, Wis. Instead of being forced to choose between the lesser of two evils it's time to begin focusing our energies on the lean transformation of health care: to take waste out of system.
By
Raymond J. Zastrow
|
July 13, 2009; 5:34 PM ET
| Category:
Health Care Reform
,
Taxes
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Posted by: Garak | July 20, 2009 1:29 PM
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When the Cheney/Bush Administration rallied the Nation to go to WAR, with IRAQ, was cost an "ISSUE"?
For 8 years the cost of the WAR, was not reflected in the "FISCAL BUDGET", and no one complained.
Now we know the real cost war over '1 TRILLION DOLLARS'. That could cover the cost of Health Care for all Americans, with no new 'TAXES.'
Posted by: austininc4 | July 20, 2009 12:03 AM
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"Which begs the real question: why would we be willing to add $1 trillion to the already over-bloated cost of buying health care in this country?"
Absolutely correct, but the right plan is to have a more efficient health insurance system like Medicare for All which would save about $500 Billion each and every year from the high overhead and compliance costs of private insurance and the high cost of drug company marketing. This is low hanging fruit. Once we have a national health system we would be in a better situation to go after the more difficult improvements Mr. Zastrow wants.
Posted by: lensch | July 14, 2009 11:20 AM
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"The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities..."
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations.