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Wealth transfer works both ways - the biggest government spending projects (i.e., military, bridges, roads, airports, etc.) are for the benefit of economic growth and stability and protecting wealth. Government giveaways to the poor pale in comparison.
Unfortuntately (and invariably) though, we all pay for it, through higher income taxes. So what you are left with is a transfer of wealth/income etc from those who have earned it to those who haven't.
Of course we ALL pay for our health care and/or insurance...does anyone think that money falls from the sky to cover it?
But somehow....somehow, every other industrialized country on this planet has seen fit to care for it's citizens by spreading most of the risk and expense over the entire population, thus insuring a consistent level of health care for everyone.
This, in my view, is a civilized thing to do, a cornerstone of an advanced society, and one of the most important things a government can do...certainly equal to military defense and superior to transportation and the countless areas where our government has involved itself and our tax dollars.
Whether this takes the form of a National Health Service like one finds in Britain or some other form of universal insured care is open to discussion; my personal preference would be a single payer system similar to a very successful one in Germany, among other nations.
Insurance at it's core is spreading risk, not transferring wealth, per se. The hardest working, most responsible person can be bankrupted in a very short time by a catastrophic illness or injury without the protection of insurance for such an event. How is this "transferring wealth from those who earned it to those who haven't"?
I don't want to get into statistics but look anywhere and you'll see that we pay the most for health care in the USA, by far, than any other country. We also come up short in life expectancy, general health, childhood mortality and a number of other areas. Is this getting our money's worth as a nation?
Pretty much any stack of stats tells us our system is inefficient and fairly unsuccessful compared to our fellow developed nations.
My wife has tons of relatives in Canada, from newborns to the ancients, and, while they certainly have gripes about the Canadian system, they think Americans are absolute SUCKERS for accepting the system we have.
Life expectancy in Canada is 80.5...in the US it's 77.5.
Why should a business be able to deduct medical care from their income and an individual taxpayer cannot? If corporations are claiming they are people then they should be treated as people and taxed on the same system. I am tired of business getting special treatment. If Exon Mobil made 100 billion last year then they should pay at the personal income tax rate on that money.
Businesses can deduct all of their expenses before they calculate their profit. Why not extend this to all families and let us deduct all of our expenses from our income before calculating our taxes? I mean all of our expenses, not just the few we are currently allowed. We should be allowed to deduct credit card interest, utility bills, household purchase and repair expenses, depreciation on automobiles ete, etc
Why should a business be able to deduct medical care from their income and an individual taxpayer cannot? If corporations are claiming they are people then they should be treated as people and taxed on the same system. I am tired of business getting special treatment. If Exon Mobil made 100 billion last year then they should pay at the personal income tax rate on that money.
If you are under the impression that an individual cannot deduct the cost of medical care, then you really need a better accountant. Also, marginal corporate rates are generally higher than marginal personal tax rates. I suggest a short e-trip to the IRS and budget websites for you. You seem to be ignorant about tax law, as well as who funds our government. Another victim of the media, no doubt.
> Why not extend this to all families and let us deduct all of our expenses
> from our income before calculating our taxes?
Because the expenses that business deducts from their "Sales" are necessary in the pursuit of earning income - which is then taxed. If Exxon paid $XXX to provide health care (insurance) for employees, then it is not income and should not be taxed.
> I mean all of our expenses, ... credit card interest, utility bills, ...
> depreciation on automobiles ...
Great. Subsidize increased borrowing and incurring debt, waste of energy, etc. I'm all for that.
> household purchase and repair expenses, ete, etc ...
for somebody else's health care already. Deducting the cost of health care subsidizes a small percentage of the expense. As Trapped advised me "raise your prices..." cost of employee benefits are passed to the consumer.
Most of the industrialized world instituted universal health care in the wake of world war 2, when insurance institutions were still small or in shambles. The exception is Germany: arch-conservative Bismarck created Germany's social safety net in the 1880s. The Iron Chancellor was perceptive enough to realize that providing for basic health care and old age pensions was an effective means of diluting the growing power of Germany's Socialist parties.
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everybody pays
