Nearly 6 million Americans will get hit by the penalty-tax provision of ObamaCare that forces individuals to buy insurance or pay Uncle Sam according to a Sept. 19, 2012 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report. That's a 50 percent increase from the CBO's 2010 estimate – about 2 million more people.
The CBO further predicts that the average penalty will be $1,200 per year, and that nearly 80 percent of those forced to pay the penalty-tax would be middle or lower-income wage earners. According to calculations by the AP, that would include individuals earning $55,850 or less and $115,250 or less for a family of four.
Yet again, the President's policies violate his repeated promise to not raise taxes of any kind on individuals earning less than $200,000 per year or couples below $250,000.
The CBO estimates the mandated penalty-tax will generate $6.9 billion of new revenue for the government by 2016 and $8 billion per year thereafter. The rotten Obama economy is the primary reason for the big increase according to the report. In addition, several states have elected to opt out of the huge expansion of Medicaid provisions of ObamaCare as ordered by the Supreme Court decision last summer.
Barack Obama continues his phony claim as the protector of the middle class, but the facts contradict his assertion. On Tuesday of this week, I published Obama's Assaulting – not protecting – the Middle Class, pointing out that there are 20 new or higher taxes, fees and penalties in ObamaCare. Seven of these taxes will directly impact the middle class, and the bulk of the burden from the other 13 will be passed on to consumers, as well, in the form of higher prices or elimination of medical products and services.
The CBO previously had blown apart another Obama promise – that that his health care plan would save families $2500 in premium expense. A July 2012 analysis concluded that ObamaCare will actually increase premium cost by $2400 – a $4900 difference in the wrong direction for American families!
Obama's policies have resulted in depressed wages, persistent unemployment, more than double gas prices, college graduates moving back home because they can't find work, twice the number of people forced to accept part-time work than in a normal economy, and an additional $15,000 burden for every man, woman and child to bear of the national debt that has ballooned by 50 percent in this President's first term.
After more than three years of Obama's non-recovery recovery, there are actually 86,000 fewer Americans with a job than when the President took office in Jan. 2009 with a workforce population that has grown by nearly 9 million people. That astonishing statistic – from Obama's own Labor Department – is irrefutable evidence of the enormous failure of Obama's economic policies.
Additionally, compared to when Obama took over, Labor Department data indicates there are 495,000 more Americans unemployed, 8.4 million more that have left the workforce, and 1.1 million more that "want a job now" but can't find one.
According to the Federal Reserve, 40 percent of family net worth has evaporated during this recession – a $41,000 loss for the average family. No, it isn't fair to blame all of the reasons for the recession on Obama, but he got elected based on his contention that he was the guy who knew how to fix it and his $831 billion stimulus was supposed to be the magic elixir.
After more than three years of Obama's non-recovery recovery, the change he promised and many hoped would happen has failed to materialize. Instead, American families are left with a legacy of broken promises, diminished hope, and bigger bills to pay but fewer dollars to go around.
There is a light at the end of the long dark tunnel, though. When the sun comes up on Nov. 7, having elected President Mitt Romney, it will be morning in America – again.
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