Senate Democrats Seek Delay in Medical-Device Tax

What do we have here? Dissension in the ranks?? I talked about the impact of this tax just after the election www.abovetopsecret.com... and it now appears that some key Democrats on the HIll are having second thoughts about imposing this massive tax hike on this segment of the the nations businesses.

A group of 17 Democratic U.S. senators and senators-elect have signed a letter urging for a delay in implementing a tax on the medical-device industry that is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, said two people familiar with the matter.

The letter, a copy of which was obtained by Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, was addressed to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and said the “the medical device industry has received little guidance about how to comply with the tax–causing significant uncertainty and confusion for businesses.” It requested a delay be included in the bill Congress is negotiating to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.

The Democrats’ support could give new momentum to the industry’s intense lobbying campaign to repeal or delay the 2.3% tax on device sales, which companies say will hurt profits and lead to U.S. job losses. However, they face a battle because other Democrats, as well as the White House, oppose any postponement.

blogs.wsj.com...

So, now what??

The letter

online.wsj.com...

With any hope, this potential delay will lead to repeal of this tax...

he tax, part of the health-care overhaul bill passed in 2010, is expected to generate $30 billion over the next 10 years to help pay for expanded health insurance. Along with the device industry, the law also placed new taxes and cost- cutting measures on the pharmaceutical, hospital and insurance industries under the premise that the newly insured will translate into new customers.

The device industry, which makes everything from pacemakers to replacement hip and knee joints, has spent much of the past year pushing Congress to repeal the tax. Over the past couple years, Medtronic Inc. ( MDT ), Covidien PLC ( COV ), Boston Scientific Corp. ( BSX ) and others spent millions lobbying against the device tax and on other policy matters, disclosure documents show.

The letter to Sen. Reid was signed by Senators Richard Durbin of Illinois, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Al Franken of Minnesota, as well as Senator-Elect Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, also signed the letter, bringing the total to 18.

"As we work together to develop a long-term solution to help move our economy forward, reduce our debt and reform our tax code, we urge you to support delaying enactment of this provision in a fiscally responsible manner," the letter said.

With just a month until the tax is enacted on Jan. 1, many believe the industry's best hope is to have a delay inserted in the last-minute bill now being negotiated to avert the so-called fiscal cliff of spending cuts and tax increases.

www.nasdaq.com...

This industry employs over 400,000 highly skilled workers in this country!!

You know, between the near endless spew of waivers for their Demo buddies to miss the pain everyone ELSE gets to suffer from this.....and selective repeal or exclusion? You'd think even they realize they passed a BAD idea on steroids. Why else would they need to waive so many? (the list is VERY VERY long for who has been given waivers to some or all since this nightmare passed).

This just tops it though eh? As we approach the iceberg, they look to tweak the arrangement of the deck chairs and maybe even put a couple away for now...just to make it look better. Umm... hey! Washington!? The ship is still sinking!

reply to post by jibeho


Um, maybe they should have read it before voting on it.

Idiots!

reply to post by jibeho


What is sad is that the "taxes" that are taking effect in 2013, will be nothing compared to the ones that will take effect in 2014. Well.............that is if we will even be the United States of America in 2014....

reply to post by beezzer


Reading is for dummies!! These mental giants on Capital Hill can merely soak up these bills by rubbing them against their foreheads.

This is my favorite part of the letter

"As we work together to develop a long-term solution to help move our economy forward, reduce our debt and reform our tax code, we urge you to support delaying enactment of this provision in a fiscally responsible manner," the letter said.

In a fiscally responsible manner they want to reform our tax code, reduce our debt and move our economy forward.. Sounds like one of Romney's old campaign speeches.... Reforming our tax code would be excellent!!

Surprisingly, Al Franken even signed this letter.... He intitially voted for this tax!! Now he wants to repeal it altogether calling it a "Job Killing Tax" Amazing.

On Monday, Franken again expressed his opposition to the tax he voted for. “I want to repeal the medical device tax altogether,” the senator and former comedian said in a statement. “But I am concerned that we are running out of time before this job-killing tax goes into effect. So, for now, the best thing to do to ensure that this important industry continues to create jobs and producing life-saving devices is to delay this unwise tax.”

washingtonexaminer.com...

reply to post by jibeho


They will "say" that taxes promote growth. They will "say" higher taxes are good. Their followers will rejoice in paying more, so they say.

But the harsh reality is that taking more money from people and businesses only makes government grw and hurts people.

Oh that is rich:

The pdf: " the honorable Harry Reid".

Oh geez talk about delusional.


Yeah that is what you get when "You have to pass the bill to see what's in it."

So the very people who pushed this legislation upon us are now scrambling to exempt themselves and their supporters.

Originally posted by NavyDoc
So the very people who pushed this legislation upon us are now scrambling to exempt themselves and their supporters.

And the people who vote for these hypocrites won't be told this is going on.

Originally posted by abecedarian

Originally posted by NavyDoc
So the very people who pushed this legislation upon us are now scrambling to exempt themselves and their supporters.

And the people who vote for these hypocrites won't be told this is going on.

How very true. Not a single blip in the MSM.