Top four articles of the day.


Millions in payroll at stake in NY Senate talks

ALBANY, N.Y. - Republican and Democratic leaders said Monday they'll meet this week to try to work out more equitable staffing in the deeply divided state Senate, where millions of dollars in payroll are at stake. more http://tinyurl.com/hrcom-blogpayroll


The Untouchables Are Killing Health Care Reform

Two untouchables in the health care reform debate may condemn it to failure. The first is the Beltway aversion to broad-based taxes for social insurances -- like the payroll tax that now funds Medicare. Without it, the increased costs of extending or mandating health insurance coverage to everyone look gigantic and the source of funds for that extension could leave many people who now have coverage worse off than they were before the reform. more http://tinyurl.com/hrcom-blogpayroll1


Senate panel approves health care reform bill


Health care reform cleared its first major hurdle Wednesday morning as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved its bill on a 13-10 party-line vote.

The HELP Committee bill requires businesses with 25 employees or more to offer health insurance or pay $750 a year per full-time worker to the federal government. Individuals would be required to obtain coverage. The bill also would create an insurance exchange, where individuals and small businesses could purchase health insurance. That exchange would include a government-run plan that would compete with private insurers. more http://tinyurl.com/hrcom-blogpayroll2



The Eye-Popping Cost of Obamacare

The House Democrats released their long-awaited draft health care reform bill today, and every rumor about what tax hikes would be included was true--and then some. My friend Ryan Ellis over at Americans for Tax Reform posted the details.

The big shocker is that the surtax on high-income earners, including small businesses, is much steeper than the rumored 3 percent that I talked about in my podcast yesterday. Instead it's 5.4 percent. Not of taxable income, mind you, but of adjusted gross income. That means the tax applies to income that was spent on home mortgage interest, medical expenses, property taxes, charitable contributions, and nearly everything else currently deducted from taxable income. more http://tinyurl.com/hrcom-blogpayroll3