RNC Women

Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee released a startling report yesterday that every American should know about in advance of the Sunday ‘showdown’ vote on health care in the U.S. House. 

The report focuses on the Individual Mandate Tax (IMT) proposed in the Democrats’ health care legislation. Under this provision, Democrats make the IRS the chief enforcer for a new government-run health insurance system.

According to the report:

“Disturbingly, the IRS would be in charge of verifying that every American taxpayer has obtained acceptable health coverage for every month of the year. If the IRS determines that a taxpayer lacks acceptable insurance for even a single month, then the IRS would impose a new tax on that taxpayer, even auditing the taxpayer and could assess interest and penalties on top of the tax. This is an unprecedented new role for the IRS – one that will inject the IRS even further into the lives of American families.”

The report also shows that, if the current version of the health care bill is enacted into law, IRS audits are likely to increase, the IRS will need another $10 billion in additional funding this decade to administer the program and the IRS may need to hire as many as 16,500 additional auditors, agents and other employees to investigate and collect billions in new taxes from Americans. 

The Democrats’ health bill has become more about controlling the lives of American families than about making sure those families have affordable access to the best care in the world.  The American people deserve better than this failed, flawed health care proposal.