ObamaCare tax bill further complicates an immorally complicated tax code

Chart shows the increase in tax rules, with a sharp uptick once Democrats gained control in the 2006 elections. ObamaCare adds more rules to an immorally complicated tax code. (Graphic: The Cato Institute)People are talking about the ObamaCare tax bill’s impact on our healthcare, wallets and personal liberty, but there’s another impact that’s been overlooked.

Our immorally complicated tax code just got more complicated.

Even some Democrats were concerned about the burden of paperwork and complexity of taxes they denied were taxes. That’s one reason the 1099 provision has already been repealed. That provision would have dealt small businesses a serious blow. You can thank House Republicans for getting that ball rolling, by the way.

There are many other ways for the federal government to fatten its belly via ObamaCare and the language about those taxes is extremely complex.

A tax on health insurers kicks in in January, 2014. Don’t be naïve about this. That tax increase will be passed directly to your premiums. Prepare for your health insurance costs to rise unless you qualify for government assistance.

Taxes, originally referred to as penalties, will be also be levied if you don’t purchase health insurance or if your health insurance does not meet regulations that haven’t been finalized yet. Your employer will face the same threat, and many medium to large corporations will simply opt to pay a fine rather than your insurance premiums. Those corporations will happily and legally collect the difference as increased profits.

If you suffer a costly illness, you will now have to meet a higher threshold to count the expenses as a deduction on your income taxes.

There’s also a peculiar tax on “charitable hospitals.” This is sort of the Community Reinvestment Act for hospitals like those operated by religious groups. Americans for Tax Reform explained:

Excise Tax on Charitable Hospitals(Min$/immediate): $50,000 per hospital if they fail to meet new "community health assessment needs," "financial assistance," and "billing and collection" rules set by HHS.

There’s even a real estate tax in ObamaCare.

There’s also a bizarre tax that depends on the subjectivity of whatever IRS cop happens to question your return. AFTR explained:

Codification of the ‘economic substance doctrine’(Tax hike of $4.5 billion).  This provision allows the IRS to disallow completely-legal tax deductions and other legal tax-minimizing plans just because the IRS deems that the action lacks “substance” and is merely intended to reduce taxes owed.

Americans did not get healthcare reform when Democrats shoved the ObamaCare tax bill down our throats. We simply got more taxes and more complicated regulations from a bill Obama and his Dems swore was not a tax bill.

The personal liberty we lost in a direct assault on the U.S. Constitution by Democrats in Congress and the White House and the U.S. Supreme Court is incalculable. The ruling on ObamaCare opens the door to totalitarianism.

In April, 2011, the Cato Institute noted there were 72,536 pages in the tax code, up from 66,498 in 2006. That increase can be placed in the laps of Democrats. No one knows how many more pages will be added now that the healthcare bill is officially in play.

I agree with Obama and his vice president on one point, with a minor spelling tweak, about the ObamaCare tax bill.

The ObamaCare tax bill IS a BFD. Only thing I’d change about what Joe Biden said is that it’s not a Big f_ _ _ing Deal. It’s a Big f _ _ _ed Deal.

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(Commentary by Kay B. Day/June 29, 2012)