Reporting from Washington — Amid all of the uncertainties about how healthcare legislation would affect each American, one thing is clear: The more affluent would pay higher taxes.
Embracing the progressive -- and sometimes politically risky -- principle that the cost of carrying out public policies should fall to the well-off more than the disadvantaged, both the House and Senate bills would place new taxes on the wealthy to help pay for expanded insurance coverage.
But the bills differ on who counts as rich and how much they would pay.
Under the House bill, couples with more than $1 million in income would pay an additional surtax of as much as 5.4%. The Senate bill would hit families of more modest wealth -- those making more than $250,000 -- with a payroll tax hike of 0.5%.
The fact that both bills include tax increases marks a striking shift in Democrats' political calculus. Not many years ago, when the party sought to shed its liberal reputation, Democrats treated any tax increase as political dynamite.
Now, however, concern about the deficit is mounting and party members are less fearful of taxing the wealthy, said Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), a multimillionaire who also would favor means-testing for Medicare premiums. "It's not a complicated idea," he said.
In a recent Associated Press poll, 57% of those surveyed favored taxing people who earn more than $250,000 a year to pay for the healthcare overhaul. Of a variety of financing options tested in the survey, that tax was the only idea supported by a majority.
"Taxing the rich works because they've got the money," said Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. But, he warned, "you can't go to that well over and over again."
Many other provisions of the two healthcare bills would affect families' pocketbooks, for better and worse. For example, people who have very generous insurance plans would probably face higher costs or reduced benefits under the Senate plan. It would tax insurance companies that offer such plans, and the cost probably would be passed on to workers.
The proposed tax increases offer a target for Republicans who say the healthcare overhaul burnishes Democrats' reputation as a party of tax-and-spend liberals.
