There are gimmicks, and then there are gimmicks. Some are relatively harmless, and can be helpful when they grease enactment of bills with positive effects that outweigh them. There are others, however, that are so egregious and damaging that they are beyond redemption.
Such is the case with a tax and Medicare maneuver championed by the Biden administration. It would double-count trillions of dollars by using the same source of revenue both to pay for the social welfare spending bill now being assembled in Congress and to forestall the coming insolvency of the Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) trust fund. (Last year, Medicare’s trustees projected HI would be depleted of reserves in 2026.) The result would be more federal borrowing, and a higher debt burden for future taxpayers.
Read Full Article »