BoatBanter.com - View Single Post

HK

wrote:
On Wed, 13 May 2009 12:36:10 -0400, HK wrote:

The medicare tax is not capped. The SS tax cap goes up every year

I stand partially corrected. Remove the SS cap. Apply the taxes against
ALL income. Better?

The reason I have heard that they want to make SS a capped tax on
wages is it is supposed to be some kind of pension type thing and not
just welfare but I guess that is ridiculous so I might be willing to
agree with your proposal. The problem is the SS tax would be bigger
than the income tax for guys like Gates and Buffett (either Buffett)

If you think you can pass it, go for it.

As for medicare, it shows the problem with government insurance. It
collects 3% of every dollar of wages earned in this country and is
going broke paying 80% of the medical bills for about 16% of the
population. If you expanded that to 100% of the population and 100% of
the bills, what would the tax rate have to be?
I know IBM says they spend $2000 a year on my insurance and I still
have to pay over $800 a month if I want reasonable coverage

My heart goes out to Buffet and Gates. :)

As far as I know, no one is seriously suggesting there be one "payer"
(the feds) for everyone's health insurance. I still favor the same sort
of coverage available through the FEHBA, with many plans from many
insurance companies available under a federal umbrella, lots of choice,
and oversight by the feds. I marketed one of those plans for many years,
and even though it was one of the least expensive plans, the coverage
was pretty decent. Those who were out of work or were paid so poorly
they could not buy even the least expensive coverage could then gain
entree into a federal plan.

And once again, I think these payroll taxes should be applied to *ALL*
income, not just to payroll income.