Remember, Obama defiantly laughing and saying ObamaCare wasn’t a tax?
From Fox News:
Democratic lawmakers have joined with Republicans in raising alarm about a looming ObamaCare-tied tax on medical devices, saying the additional tax is causing “uncertainty and confusion for businesses” and should be delayed.
The previously obscure tax has, over the last several months, emerged as one of the most controversial in the health care overhaul and one of the few with bipartisan opposition. Starting Jan. 1, the Affordable Care Act imposes a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices with the goal of raising nearly $30 billion over the next decade.
But a group of U.S. senators this week revived concerns that the tax could hurt one of the few U.S. industries “that enjoys a net trade surplus.”
“The medical technology industry directly employs over 400,000 people in the United States and is responsible for a total of 2 million high-skilled manufacturing jobs,” Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar and North Carolina Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan wrote in a letter with 16 other senators and senators-elect Monday to Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid. “In an environment focused on increasing exports, promoting small businesses and growing high-tech manufacturing jobs for the future, we must do all we can to ensure that our country maintains its global leadership position in the medical technology industry and keeps good jobs here at home.”
The lawmakers urged Reid to support a delay in implementation, warning of the business consequences.
“With this year quickly drawing to a close, the medical device industry has received little guidance about how to comply with the tax-causing significant uncertainty and confusion for businesses,” they wrote. “As we work together to develop a long-term solution to help move our economy forward, reduce our debt and reform our tax code, we urge you to support delaying enactment of this provision in a fiscally responsible manner.”
