McCain At Least Knows To Copy Good Ideas

I haven't seen a lot of clever ideas coming from McCain, but at least he can copy good ideas from others. From the July 7, 2008 Idaho Statesman:

"I will double the child deduction from $3,500 to $7,000 for every dependent," McCain said in the prepared remarks. He also cited his plans to cut the estate tax, although Democrats note that it applies to only a fraction of Americans.

Well yes, that's true. Only a fraction of Americans pay estate tax. But when a family-owned business above about $2 million in value goes through probate, to pay the estate tax, the heirs often have to sell the business--and who usually buys the business? A much bigger fish. If your goal is to consolidate small businesses into bigger hands, then I suppose the estate tax makes sense.

McCain would provide refundable tax credits of $2,500 for individuals, and $5,000 for families, for all those who buy health insurance. Employer contributions toward health insurance would be treated as income, meaning workers would have to pay income taxes on it, but not payroll taxes.

This is likely to be bad for the majority of Americans whose employers provide them more than $5,000 worth of health insurance benefits, and good for the minority of Americans who have no health insurance at all.

There is a fraction of Americans with little or no health coverage assistance from their employer. A lot of small companies contribute nothing, but at least make coverage to employees available at cost. This would be a big gain. Right now, these employees are paying several hundred dollars a month for coverage, and it comes out of their own pockets alone. This would at least give them some federal tax relief with which to pay for health insurance that they already have. For the most part, the beneficiaries aren't the rich, but the working poor.

Obama says the plan would seriously undermine the employer-based system that provides health insurance to about 158 million workers. He would require most employers to provide health care for their workers or pay into a national health care plan.

No, it would mean that we would no longer have a system whereby those of us with big employers and reasonably generous health insurance plans would no longer have a huge federal tax subsidy--while 15% of the population has no coverage at all. Obama is taking a position that is perilously close to "Let them eat cake."

This Bush plan that McCain is recycling would likely have the effect of equalizing the current system, whereby those of us with good jobs have decent health insurance, and those with bad jobs have nothing. And the Democrats are complaining that the Republicans are pushing a plan that creates equality?