Senate explores taxes, taxes, and more taxes to pay for Health Care Reform

The Obama administration keeps pledging that Health Care Reform will wind up saving Americans money. But every time we hear back from Congress, the tax bill for it keeps going up. Now, the Senate is exploring new and interesting ways to tax hiring in the middle of the Great Recession.

The versions leaked so far would add as much as 0.5% on workers who earn more than $200,000. If assessed on both the worker and employer, this would increase the Medicare tax rate to 3.9% from 2.9% today. It would also create the first progressive payroll tax in American history, with wealthier workers paying a higher Medicare payroll tax rate than lower income workers...

In another trial balloon, Mr. Reid would impose the payroll tax on all income, not just wages and salaries. This means applying the tax to capital gains, dividends and other investment income. This would convert the Medicare levy into a de facto version of the income tax.

For those keeping score at home, that includes both taxes that punish investing (which creates jobs) and hiring (which gets people into jobs). Anyone out there think that will have a positive effect on Unemployment?

I am still amazed that the Democrats seem to think Unemployment is unimportant compared to all of their other priorities.