Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Conservatives Want To Keep Your Taxes High

You cannot go a day without hearing some right wing politician, some right wing blogger, and/or some right wing radio squawker bombarding you with the same old, same old line of "Wisconsin is not business friendly because the taxes are so high."

They may be correct, but they are also continuously opposing any chances for our taxes to go down.

One of the biggest reasons taxes are so high in this country, according to some, it due to the benefits, like health care, that go to public employees. Almost every year, health care insurance rates go up many times the rate of inflation. Not only does this mean taxes go up and/or services get cut, but it also puts a real crimp in small businesses directly.

Small businesses often don't even offer health care insurance because it is so costly. And if they do, the premiums make it unaffordable for the employee.

Small Business Majority did an independent study and recently came out with the report. The results(pdf) were interesting and flew in the face of the standard right wing talking points:
Wisconsin’s small business owners overwhelmingly indicate that affordability is the barrier to providing health insurance. Where they do offer coverage, cost creates a significant struggle to continue to afford it, yet they feel a responsibility to provide coverage. They view lack of access to high-quality, affordable health insurance as a significant barrier to entrepreneurship; see reform as necessary and important to getting the economy back on track; and see themselves as part of the solution, working together with the federal government, insurers and providers.
• The number one concern for Wisconsin small businesses in healthcare reform is controlling costs, followed by having insurance that covers everybody and ensuring at least high-quality standard benefits.
• 85% of small businesses want to eliminate preexisting condition rules, and 75% see these rules as a barrier to starting a business.
• 84% of small businesses not offering health insurance say they can’t afford to, while 70% of those who do offer it say they’re really struggling to do so.
• 84% of small businesses support establishing a health insurance pool to create a marketplace where small businesses and individuals can choose their coverage. Only 11% oppose this proposal.
• 75% prefer having the choice of a private or public health insurance plan, with 14% preferring private only and 6% preferring only a public option.
• 72% say healthcare reform is important for getting the economy back on track.
• 67% say it’s important for individuals, employers, insurers, the government and healthcare providers to share the responsibility for making healthcare more affordable.
• 55% say their company has a responsibility to provide health coverage for its employees.
• 53% believe businesses that don’t offer health insurance should be required to pay something to cover their employees, although 32% say no contribution should be required. Of those who agree that employers should contribute, more than half believe it should be more than 5% of payroll.
Wisconsin’s small business owners are concerned about the cost of health coverage. They believe healthcare reform is necessary and are willing to participate as part of the solution. Access to affordable health insurance is currently a problem for most of them. A majority believe that in order to make healthcare more affordable, it is important to share the responsibility for financing among government, individuals, insurers, providers and employers. Small business owners support a variety of reform approaches that involve government action. These include eliminating preexisting health status in the provision of insurance and creating a large insurance exchange.
All in all, these are intuitively sensible findings. So if the Republicans are always claiming to be pro-business and anti-taxes, why do they continuously and religiously try to keep businesses at a disadvantage and keep all of our taxes up?

Keith Schmitz has more at folkbum's.

3 comments:

  1. You hit the nail on the head conservatives talk a good game but when it comes to actual action they end up just like the democrats.

    99% of politicians are out to gain power and increase the size of the state or fed. Even the revered Regan increased the size of government.

    When it comes to politicians, for the most part look out for them selves or their party, even at the cost of the people the represent them.

    This is exactly why groups that remove politians like WIN and Citizens for Responsible Government are so important. They put a little fear under these guys.

    The only problem is they want to install other government officials that will eventually so the same thing.

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  2. I support health car reform as long as that means getting the governments greedy little hands out of health care.

    Government intervention and regulations are what has driven up health care costs.

    For the life of me I can't figure out why a person would want to put a group of people that are willing to use violence to steal money from you in charge of health care.

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