Rangel and a Surtax\Income Tax Increase

Rangel and Waxmen had been dancing around paying the trillion dollar bill being floated about and with Rangel adamantly opposed to taxing employee benefits its appears he and the democrats in Congress are aiming for an increase of the upper bracket for income taxes with the money allegedly for health care but more likely for the general fund.

July 7 (Bloomberg) -- House Ways and Means Committee members are likely to propose a surtax on high-income Americans to help pay for an overhaul of the health-care system, according to people familiar with the plan.

The tax would be similar to, yet much smaller than, a surtax proposed in 2007 by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, a person familiar with the committee’s talks said. That plan would have added at least a 4 percent levy on incomes exceeding $200,000, and was projected to reap as much as $832 billion over 10 years.

Two people familiar with closed-door talks by committee Democrats said a House bill probably will include a surtax on incomes exceeding $250,000, as Congress seeks ways to pay for changes to a health-care system that accounts for almost 18 percent of the U.S. economy. By targeting wealthier Americans, a surtax may hold more appeal for House Democrats than a Senate proposal to tax some employer-provided health benefits.

“The surtax is obviously more attractive to Democrats in the House because it’s more progressive, which they find attractive in and of itself,” said Paul Van de Water, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a research group focused on policies affecting low- and moderate-income families.

Supporters on the Ways and Means Committee include Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat who backs including a surtax among revenue-raising measures in a health- care package, Doggett spokeswoman Sarah Dohl said.

Of course out its starts with 250,000, only wealthy by ignorant standards, but the rest of us will end up paying this tax as it is rolled down in the face of decreasing revenues. As of now it will be tax the rich and class hatred, of course Obama swore not to raise taxes in a recession, but this is Obama so the promise doesn't mean that much.