Further Changes To S. Con. Res. 13 Pursuant

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, My Friend, Senator Casey, just a few moments ago repeated the frequent claim made by members on the other side of the aisle that the health care bill provides a $40 billion net tax cut.

As I demonstrated in a speech earlier today, this claim is inaccurate and does nothing to address the fact that millions of middle-class Americans will see a tax increase.

I have consistently given my Democratic friends credit for providing a significant benefit to help people buy insurance.

This beneficiary class, however, is small.

At the same time there are 78 million individuals, families, and single parents who will see a tax increase.

Seventy-three million of them are below $200,000.

It is only because the subsidy for this small group is so large--and refundable--that there is a net tax benefit.

For example, the average subsidy is close to $8,000. Around 13.2 million individuals and families receive this subsidy.

But the data also shows that there is a group of 73 million middle-class Americans who will pay on average $710 more in taxes.

My Democratic colleagues want to say that since the cost of providing an average tax benefit of $8,000 to 13.2 million individuals and families is greater than the revenue raised by raising the taxes on 73 million individuals and families by $710 there is a net tax decrease.

The truth is individuals who are seeing a tax increase are not actually benefiting from the very large subsidy. This is because, in general, this group isn't even eligible for the subsidy.

It comes back to this: a small group of Americans benefit under this bill. Another group of Americans pay higher taxes. These Americans include middle-income individuals and families.

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