[Still, such a idea is political dynamite.] The politics are impossible, ... Politicians do this at their peril. |
[That's not to say there haven't been efforts to reform the system.] There was a proposal in Congress that would raise a point of order against any tax proposal that would not deal with the AMT, ... It died. |
All economists agree tax policy has an effect on the economy. The hard thing is to figure out how to measure these effects in the real world. |
It's generating a huge portion of our tax revenues, |
The deficit is a little smaller because of this voluntary tax. |
The experience with past employer (tax) credits is they're not particularly effective, |
The subsidies encourage people to get insurance at work, stifling the individual non-group market, and they encourage employers to provide overly generous insurance since the cost is subsidized. What's more, the subsidy is upside down - aiding mostly the high-income families that would probably purchase insurance under any scenario, and providing little aid to those of modest means. |
There was a proposal in Congress that would raise a point of order against any tax proposal that would not deal with the AMT. It died. |
This is a problem that should have been dealt with when we had the money, and it wasn't. |
Will Rogers once said, 'If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.' Medicare is in a deep hole. Maybe it is time to stop digging. |