Thank God, we are finally going to fuck the greedy rich folks. Pelosi passes the tax plan in the House

Let's just see how much of her plans sticks through the senate vote. Right now, nothing is moving through the senate.

A 2 page article and the Times doesn't even mention that tort reform wasn't included in the bill.
Intellectually bankrupt - the bill and the Times.

More would be done to lower health care costs with tort reform than with all of the other provisions in this bill combined.
Some of the ideas in the bill are great and will be a help to our country but the lack of tort reform just shows us that Washington is still Washington - not change I can believe in.

And patient09 - do you think rich people are more greedy and self-serving than poor people? If so I suggest you go to a section 8 office for an hour.

patient09 -

Since the link doesn't spell out what your table is, I am assuming - though uncertain - that it is what the total tax burden will look like for NYC residents who earn more than whatever the threshold amount winds up being. I think at this point it's poised to be $500K for individuals, and $1mn for joint filers.

Assuming that to be the case, then if this comes to pass it means that "they" will be paying 52.22% on their millionth dollar in income and then 57.62% on everything above that.

This is, of course, before any sort of aggressive tax tactics or shelters are taken into account, and I think you can be certain that use of these is already somewhat prevalent, and will only intensify.

From the type of apartment you've said you're looking for, and from other nuggets gleaned here (profession, kids in what kind of school etc) I would have guessed you were squarely in this income bracket. Are you displeased with the prospects of healthcare reform passing because of what it will mean to your individual tax burden?

My feeling is the legislation passed will not reduce health care costs but shift the costs. One of the arguments for the legislation is we need to reduce expenditures at the national level. If we truly want to reduce costs we need to engage in tort reform and raise deductibles which is the only way you'll get consumers of health care services interested in seeking lower cost options. If someone else pays the bill why would you care about the price of a service? The $5,000 MRI = 2,500 MRI. And sometimes the $2,500 MRI uses a more modern machine.

http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/would-tort-reform-lower-health-care-costs/

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_030509/content/01125109.guest.html

http://www.defendtortreform.com/

Really? From my reading of the Times today, I see the banks stocks going up as a result of the government actions, but they still won't redeem the auction rate securities that they sold. These are "the GREEDY rich folks" to me.

There are rich folks and there are rich folks. People who make the bulk of their income via W2s will bear the brunt of the increased taxes. If your income is derived from dividends, etc. I don't think you are affected that much. I could be wrong, I haven't looked into the all the tax ramifications.

I am wholeheartedly for healthcare reform even if I have to pay for it via higher taxes. Yes, even if some are not "rightfully" appreciative or pay their fair share. And I don't think the whole plan is actionable unless there is some sort of rationing, which will undoubtedly be cruel to some. It is better than what we have now. Though I think it is a mistake not to raise income taxes at least a token amount on everyone. In Canada, there is an appreciation that everyone pays for health care insurance because everyone is taxed to pay for it.