WSJ economist on costs

Stephen Moore, an economist with the Wall Street Journal, appeared on Fox News recently to discuss the ramifications of the president’s new health care law…and his analysis is sure to come as a shock to those who haven’t been following the matter closely.

Though Barack Obama assured the middle class he would not raise taxes on those making less than $200,000 a year, Moore’s research shows that in reality, a significant percentage of the burden will be shouldered by those making $120,000 or less by the year 2016.
 
Here are rough numbers of how the costs will increase over the next few years:

“Why do you think that somehow,” host Alisyn Camerota asked, “this equates to a tax to everyone?”
 
“Well, the court decided this the other day, didn’t they Alisyn?” Moore responded with a smile.
 
“And you know there’s an old saying that if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.  I’ll tell you this, for Americans who are going to have to pay these fines, penalties, taxes, whatever you want to call them…What we found is it’s going to be pretty darn expensive.  The taxes phase in over time so next year they might be pretty modest, by about 2015 or ‘16, for families that choose not to buy health insurance, you’re talking about a fine, Alisyn, that could be over $2,000 a year.”
 
From there, Camerota said that she had an example of these fines, “or taxes, as you call them.”
 
Rather than reiterate that a primary reason the bill was upheld was because it was determined to be a tax by the Supreme Court, Moore concluded: “You remember the president’s promise that when he was elected, no one making under $200,000 would pay a dime more in taxes…Again, whatever you want to call it Alisyn, fines, taxes, penalties, but three quarters of those costs will fall on the backs of families who make less than $120,00 a year, so it’s a big punch in the stomach to middle class families.”
 
Watch the entire exchange on The Blaze by clicking here.