The Hill: Repealing Obamacare Has Always Been about Tax Cuts for the Rich

Below is an excerpt of an op-ed by ITEP Senior Fellow Steve Wamhoff that was published in The Hill on July 11, 2017

Does moving a tax cut for the rich out of one bill and into another bill make lawmakers seem more in touch with the middle class? Senators trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act hope so. Americans should answer them with a loud “no.”

The legislation that Senate Republicans have written to repeal the ACA is one of the least popular bills in history because it cuts healthcare coverage for working people in order to finance tax cuts for the rich.

One of the biggest tax cuts in the bill is a provision that would repeal a 3.8 percent tax on investment income for those who make more than $200,000 (more than $250,000 in the case of married couples). My organization, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), recently estimated that if Congress had repealed this tax in 2016, 90 percent of the benefits would have gone to the richest 1 percent of households — those with at least $578,000 in income in 2016. Read more

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