[vter]

We are staying regardless. I am personally reserving judgement until we know exactly how this is going to be funded/work. I personally really hope it is as affordable as the talking heads are saying it is and that it will be cheaper for us than what we are paying now. Something NEEDS to be done, but is single payer the answer? I don't know. I guess we'll see!

[cgregor]

Originally Posted by FrugalYankee

HAH! What happens when the employees get paid better than the owner, as sometimes happens?

Whereas the CEO of Megastore might make 500 times the average worker's pay, a business owner who makes no more than or even less than the workers is considered to be one of the workers. Whereas Megastore's CEO rates a 500, the business owner would rate a 1, and the formula proceeds accordingly, providing the latter business a lower payroll tax. In one scenario, one mega-store faced a 4.9% payroll tax; a country store owner with six employees faced a 0.2% (yes, 0.002) payroll tax.

When the company is an employee-owned cooperative, the same thing happens.

[arctichomesteader]

I'm not too sure a state can base a tax on a corporation on what the CEO and resident of another state (with zero ties to this state) of a corporation earns. That's getting involved in interstate commerce issues.

[vter]

Looks like single payer is off the table for now.
Shumlin won't seek single-payer health care in 2015 - WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-

[cgregor]

Well, I guess I'll stay in Vermont anyway!

[arctichomesteader]

Dropped for the reasons I and others have been saying it wouldn't work.

[Sporin]

This is as much about the massive rebuke of Shumlin at the polls as the numbers themselves. The unprecedented support for Scott Milne (a moderate, business-friendly Republican) was a flat out rejection of Shumlin's rather tone-deaf plans and failures over the last few years here in the state.

Continuing to push single-payer, in light of that, was almost impossible. The numbers report just made it all the more clear.

While most folks I talk to love the idea in theory, the reality is that the economy in Vermont simply won't support it right now. Shumlin already has a rep as being "anti-business" and a large number of Vermonters are already working multiple, low-paying jobs to make ends meet. To add the kind of extra tax burden these numbers indicate would cripple the economy here for a long time before the benefits were realized.

[vter]

Originally Posted by Sporin

While most folks I talk to love the idea in theory, the reality is that the economy in Vermont simply won't support it right now.

Yep...this was me. I really like the idea and was hoping the numbers would work...but I'm not surprised that they won't. I hope our elected officials will still continue to look at the health care issue and make some strides into making it more affordable for everyone. It is certainly not an easy answer.

[snatale1]

Originally Posted by cgregor

A very interesting way of paying for universal health care in Vermont is starting to make the rounds.

Instead of a flat payroll tax per employee, the tax would be based on the order of magnitude in difference between the average employee's pay and the pay of the head of the company. Example: Wal-Mart, whose CEO makes 1,900+ times what the average Vermont Wal-Mart employee makes, would pay X amount per employee, while the proprietor of a country store (which industry employs far more people in Vermont than Wal-Mart does, with far smaller profits) who made only twice what the average employee makes, would pay 2/1900ths of X per employee.

The reaction of small businesses in Vermont is awaited. As I said, it's starting to get around.

So another system of punishing the successful? If you guys like the commie / socialist mindset of the government being your babysitter so much and many claiming they moved to VT for it, why not jump over the border and have the real thing?

Luckily it's been officially announced it's not going to happen.

[cgregor]

Originally Posted by snatale1

So another system of punishing the successful? If you guys like the commie / socialist mindset of the government being your babysitter so much and many claiming they moved to VT for it, why not jump over the border and have the real thing?

Luckily it's been officially announced it's not going to happen.

Not punishing the successful, but giving the small guy a chance. You ought to take a look in the Great Plains states and see what Wal-Mart has done to downtowns-- sucked them dry. You can have a free-market system where a lot of shopowners and manufacturers have a piece of the pie, or you can have a free-market system where only a few get all the dessert.

When a country store owner makes 1800 times what his average employee does, he'd pay the same rate as Wal-Mart would. You have a problem with that?