Democrats Having Coronary Over Medical Device Tax They Created

December 13, 2012

Democrats Having Coronary Over Medical Device Tax They Created

Group of Eighteen Senate Democrats Urges Delay on ObamaCare’s Latest Job-Destroying Tax Hike—Will House Democrats Keep Supporting It?

Eighteen Senate Democrats recently sent a letter to Harry Reid urging him to work to suspend implementation of ObamaCare’s medical device tax, set to go into effect on January 1, 2013.
The tax has already destroyed jobs at home and is expected to eliminate tens of thousands more, sending jobs overseas to countries like China.
Despite these disastrous impacts, many House Democrats have repeatedly insisted on keeping the tax in place.

Eighteen Senate Democrats recently sent a letter to Harry Reid urging him to work to suspend implementation of ObamaCare’s medical device tax, set to go into effect on January 1, 2013:

18 SENATE DEMOCRATS URGE DELAY OF OBAMACARE’S JOB-DESTROYING MEDICAL DEVICE TAX:(Sen. Amy Klobuchar, et al., Letter to Harry Reid, 12/4/2012)

OBAMACARE’S “HEART ATTACK TAX” WOULD TAX “EVERYTHING FROM CARDIAC DEFIBRILLATORS TO ARTIFICIAL JOINTS TO MRI SCANNERS”: ” ‘Taxmageddon’ isn’t only about the half-trillion-dollar blow to the economy that arrives in 2013 on the end of the Bush-Obama tax rates. Several of the Affordable Care Act’s worst tax increases kick in too, such as the new excise tax on medical devices. The 2.3% levy applies to the sale of everything from cardiac defibrillators to artificial joints to MRI scanners.” (Editorial, “Improvised Explosive Device Tax,” The Wall Street Journal, 5/28/2012)

“COMPANIES AT MAKE-OR-BREAK MARGINS COULD BE TAXED OUT OF EXISTENCE,” ESPECIALLY START-UPS AND MID-SIZED FIRMS: ”The device tax is supposed to raise $28.5 billion from 2013 to 2022, and it is especially harmful because it applies to gross sales, not profits. Companies at make-or-break margins could be taxed out of existence, especially in an intensely competitive industry where four of five businesses are start-ups or midsized.” (Editorial, “Improvised Explosive Device Tax,” The Wall Street Journal, 5/28/2012)

THE TAX COULD HIT PACEMAKERS, STENTS, ELASTIC BANDAGES, ARTIFICIAL HIPS AND KNEES: (Susan Kelly, “Medical Device Tax May Spur Price Hikes, Cost Cuts,” Reuters, 4/18/2012)

TAX WILL MEAN “FEWER PAIN-REDUCING AND LIFE-EXTENDING INVENTIONS”: ”So the 2.3 percent tax, unless repealed, will mean not only fewer jobs but also fewer pain-reducing and life-extending inventions — stents, implantable defibrillators, etc. — which have reduced health-care costs.” (George Will, “Taxing Jobs Out of Existence,” The Washington Post, 5/9/2012)

The tax has already destroyed jobs at home and is expected to eliminate tens of thousands more, sending jobs overseas to countries like China:

HEALTHCARE LEADERSHIP COUNCIL: 43,000 MEDICAL DEVICE INDUSTRY WORKERS COULD BE LAID OFF BY TAX HIKE: “Under reasonable assumptions, the tax could result in job losses in excess of 43,000 and employment compensation losses in excess of $3.5 billion.” (“Employment Effects of the New Excise Tax on the Medical Device Industry,” Healthcare Leadership Council, September 2011)

MEDICAL INDUSTRY: “TAX WILL STIFLE INNOVATION AND SEND JOBS OVERSEAS”: (Susan Kelly, “Medical Device Tax May Spur Price Hikes, Cost Cuts,” Reuters, 4/18/2012)

SEVERAL MEDICAL DEVICE COMPANIES ARE ALREADY OUTSOURCING JOBS AND LAYING OFF WORKERS: “Cook Medical is no longer planning to open a U.S. factory a year. Boston Scientific, planning for a more than $100 million charge against earnings in 2013, recently built a $35 million research and development facility in Ireland and is building a $150 million factory in China. (Capital goes where it is welcome and stays where it is well-treated.) Stryker Corp., based in Michigan, blames the tax for 1,000 layoffs. Zimmer, based in Indiana, is laying off 450 and taking a $50 million charge against earnings. Medtronic expects an annual charge against earnings of $175 million.” (George Will, “Taxing Jobs Out of Existence,” The Washington Post, 5/9/2012)

SOME MEDICAL DEVICE MAKERS, INCLUDING SMALL BUSINESSES, “HAVE ALREADY ANNOUNCED LAYOFFS AHEAD OF THE TAX”: (Susan Kelly, “Medical Device Tax May Spur Price Hikes, Cost Cuts,” Reuters, 4/18/2012)

STUDY: OBAMACARE MEDICAL DEVICE TAX WILL SEND JOBS TO CHINA AND INDIA: “The United States is the world’s leading exporter of medical devices, and each new industry job adds more than four to the overall U.S. economy. An industry report claims that 43,000 U.S. jobs will be lost because of the tax, many of them to foreign countries such as India and China, where labor, taxes and raw materials are cheaper. That’s more than 10 percent of the nation’s 422,000 medical-device workers.” (Tony Pugh, “Medical Device Makers Push Congress to Repeal Excise Tax,” McClatchy News, 9/22/2011)

WELCH ALLYN: 10% OF WORKFORCE WILL BE CUT, JOBS WILL MOVE TO MEXICO: (Charley Hannagan, “Some Welch Allyn Accounting Jobs Will Move to Mexico,” The Syracuse Post-Standard, 9/11/2012)

Despite these disastrous impacts, many House Democrats have repeatedly insisted on the tax in place:

98% OF HOUSE DEMS VOTED IN JAN 2011 AGAINST REPEALING OBAMACARE AND STOPPING IT FROM OUTSOURCING JOBS: (Roll Call 14, Clerk of the U.S. House, 1/19/2011)

96% OF HOUSE DEMS VOTED AGAINST CUTTING OFF FUNDING TO IMPLEMENT OBAMACARE’S OUTSOURCING PROVISIONS: (Roll Call 270, Clerk of the U.S. House, 4/14/2011)

77% OF HOUSE DEMOCRATS VOTED AGAINST REPEALING THE HEART ATTACK TAX THAT COULD LEAD TO OUTSOURCING: (Roll Call 361, Clerk of the U.S. House, 6/7/2012)

97% OF HOUSE DEMOCRATS VOTED AGAIN THIS JULY TO PREVENT OBAMACARE REPEAL: (Roll Call 460, Clerk of the U.S. House, 7/11/2012)

Democrats Having Coronary Over Medical Device Tax They Created http://ow.ly/g36N4