WASHINGTON — The Obama White House left open the possibility Sunday that the president would break a campaign promise and raise taxes on people earning less than $250,000 to support his health care overhaul plan.
White House adviser David Axelrod said the administration wouldn’t rule out taxing some employees’ benefits to fund a health care agenda that has yet to take final form. The move would be a compromise with fellow Democrats, who are pushing the proposal as a way to pay for the massive undertaking without ballooning the federal deficit.
"There are a number of formulations and we’ll wait and see. The important thing at this point is to keep the process moving, to keep people at the table, to keep the discussions going,” Axelrod said. "We’ve gotten a long way down the road and we want to finish that journey.”
But if President Barack Obama compromises on that point, it would reverse a campaign tax promise.
"I pledge that under my plan, no one making less than $250,000 a year will see any type of tax increase,” Obama told a crowd in Dover, N.H., last year. "Not income tax, not capital gains taxes, not any kind of tax.”
Under the current proposals, a tax on health benefits would affect only those with pricey health plans. The idea would be to tax as income the portion of health benefits worth more than a specified limit. Officials are considering several options, including one that would set the limit at $17,240 for family coverage and $6,800 for individuals.
Plans worth more than that would be taxed; those worth less would not be.
Axelrod appeared on ABC’s "This Week” and NBC’s "Meet the Press.”
by the associated press
No comments:
Post a Comment