[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16737-16738]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HEALTH CARE TAX HIKES

  Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I rise today to talk about the tax 
hikes that are going to be hitting middle-class families all across 
this country, and it is going to do so in a way that many Americans do 
not realize. Everyone in Washington is talking about the fiscal cliff 
and the tax increases that might come from that, but today I wish to 
talk about something different; that is, the tax increases that are 
coming regardless of what happens with the fiscal cliff. Those are the 
tax hikes we are seeing because of President Obama's health care law.
  People who have been following this closely know that President 
Obama's health care law guarantees that middle-class families will pay 
higher taxes. The President promised repeatedly that he would not raise 
taxes on the middle class. As a matter of fact, he said, ``If you're a 
family making less than $250,000 a year,'' referring to his health care 
plan, ``my plan won't raise your taxes one penny--not your income 
taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of 
your taxes.'' That is what the President said. But once he got into 
office, President Obama arranged for his health care plan to be written 
behind closed doors. Democrats in Congress passed it, and they did it 
strictly along party lines.
  This law included more than 20 different tax increases. These tax 
increases amount to more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years. Of 
those, a dozen taxes specifically targeted middle-class taxpayers. The 
most famous, of course, is the individual mandate tax. That is the one 
which requires that all Americans buy a government-approved health 
insurance plan. If they don't for even 1 single month out of the year, 
then they have to pay the tax. Members of the Senate ought to remember 
this one. This is the one the American public still finds very 
unfavorable, to the point that still a majority of Americans want to 
change or either completely eliminate and repeal the President's health 
care law.
  The law continues to be very unpopular. One of the main reasons has 
to do with this tax. It is a tax that is going to hit families harder 
than single people, and it is going to hit the middle class harder than 
wealthier Americans. You know what. That is the way it was designed, 
amazingly. That is the way the Democrats in this body designed the 
tax--to hit the middle class harder than wealthier Americans. By 2016, 
4.7 million low- and middle-income households will face a tax for not 
buying government-approved health insurance. It was entirely 
predictable. In fact, a lot of us on the Republican side of the aisle 
did predict it right here on the floor of the Senate.
  Well, this leads me to another aspect of the health care law that the 
White House and the Democrats have not been eager to talk about, and it 
is the role specifically related to this tax, and that is the role of 
the IRS, the Internal Revenue Service. The law gives the IRS 
unprecedented new powers to do what? To probe into taxpayers' lives.
  Right after the election--and they waited until after the election--
the Obama administration started releasing a wave of new health care 
regulations. These include new rules on how the IRS plans to implement 
the new health care taxes. Just last week, they put out proposed rules 
on how they are going to enforce the new Medicare payroll taxes. They 
still haven't said exactly how they plan to enforce the individual 
mandate tax.
  But we do know IRS agents are going to be verifying who bought health 
insurance and taxing everyone who didn't. We know the IRS will be doing 
more tax audits for health care spending. We know the IRS will be able 
to confiscate Americans' tax refunds. Why? Well, to pay for health care 
taxes--not to pay for health care but to pay for health care taxes and 
to assess interest and late fees on people without insurance.
  We know we are going to see an army of new IRS agents and auditors--
to do what? They are going to investigate the health insurance choices 
of Americans and their families. The agency is going to have to collect 
a huge amount of data not just from insurance companies but from the 
American people. The IRS is going to want to know details such as the 
cost and the benefit structure of every person's health insurance 
policy. They are going to want to know who in each household is covered 
and how long they have been covered. They will want to know the incomes 
people reported to their insurance company and what other kind of 
coverage their employer may have offered.
  To get all of this information, the Internal Revenue Service will 
have to develop new layers, additional layers of redtape for businesses 
and for families, new forms, new filing procedures, and new 
instructions. It is going to have to come up with some way for 
taxpayers to resolve any discrepancies, and there are going to be a lot 
between what their tax returns say and the data the insurance companies 
report. It is going to be a nightmare. It is not clear how the IRS is 
going to do this, but people are certainly going to need to keep very 
careful records. It is also clear that a lot of Americans are going to 
be defending themselves against audits.
  All of that is work the IRS is going to have to do just to get ready 
for this massive amount of new bureaucracy. The problem is that several 
independent reviews have found that the agency is seriously unprepared. 
In one, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found 
that the IRS is

[[Page 16738]]

not equipped--not equipped--to implement the law contained in what is 
called the ``largest set of tax law changes in more than 20 years.'' 
The IRS hasn't even conducted a thorough review of the law that it is 
required to execute. As a result, the Inspector General's Office said 
it wasn't able to determine whether the IRS had adequately planned for 
the workforce it will need.
  There was a separate analysis done. There was an analysis done by the 
House of Representatives. They found that the IRS could need more than 
16,000 new IRS agents, new IRS examiners, new IRS support employees. 
Well, you know as well as I that the American taxpayers will get hit 
with the bill to pay for the salaries of all of those new IRS 
employees--the agents, the examiners, and the support employees.
  The American people knew what they wanted from health care reform. 
What they asked for was the care they need from the doctor they choose 
at a lower cost. That is what the President and Democrats promised 
them. It turns out that what the American public has gotten is fewer 
choices, more regulations, and higher taxes.
  In meeting after meeting, when visiting with constituents in Wyoming, 
I said, ``How many of you believe that under the President's health 
care law, you are going to pay more for your health insurance?'' All of 
the hands went up.
  I said, ``How many of you think that the quality and availability of 
your care because of the President's health care law is going to go 
down or it is going to get worse?'' Again, all of the hands went up.
  Now what these same people are learning is that the IRS is the chief 
Federal enforcer for key parts of President Obama's health care law. 
The people of my State and the people around the country do not like it 
at all.
  What we are going to have as a result of the health care law is a 
much larger Internal Revenue Service. They are going to have broad new 
powers--powers to investigate, powers to monitor, and powers to tax the 
American people. At the same time, there is real doubt about whether 
the agency is even up to the job.
  America's middle-class families don't want, don't need, and cannot 
afford more taxes. They don't want, they don't need, and they cannot 
afford a more powerful Internal Revenue Service, with more agents 
looking into the details of their health care choices, but that is 
exactly what President Obama and every Democrat in this body have given 
to the American people.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Whitehouse). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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