CCH Briefing Details Tax Provisions of House Health Care Bill

RIVERWOODS, Ill., Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The House version of health care
reform - the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which passed by a vote of
220-215 on Saturday, November 7, 2009 - mandates several significant changes
to the tax code and differs in many ways from the tax provisions likely to
appear in any Senate version, requiring extensive reconciliation to reach
final agreement. CCH has issued a Special Tax Briefing on the tax provisions
of the legislation, detailing differences between House and Senate versions.
To read the Briefing, click here.

"Both House and Senate approaches to health care reform use the tax code in
two basic ways - to broaden insurance coverage through tax incentives and
penalties on the one hand, and on the other hand simply to raise revenue to
pay part of the costs, even if the revenue raisers aren't directly related to
coverage issues," said CCH Principal Federal Tax Analyst Mark Luscombe, JD,
LLM, CPA.

For example, the House bill imposes a new 4.5 percent surtax on incomes above
$500,000 for single filers, $1,000,000 for joint filers and surviving spouses,
expected to raise more than $400 billion over 10 years to help pay for nearly
universal coverage. Although a final version of the Senate bill is still being
fine-tuned, it will not contain an income tax surcharge and is almost certain
to contain a tax on "Cadillac" insurance plans, with more generous benefits
and higher premiums than typical plans, a provision lacking in the House bill.

"There are dozens of differences between House and Senate tax provisions. Some
are minor and easy to reconcile, but many differ in very fundamental ways.
Assuming that health care reform passes in the Senate, a conference committee
will have a lot of work just to iron out these tax issues on the way to a
final bill," Luscombe said.

CCH Tax Briefings

To read the 2009 Health Care Reform Briefing, click here. Timely, current
analysis of other tax legislation can be found at CCH Tax Legislation
Coverage.

About CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business

CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business (CCHGroup.com) is a leading provider of tax,
accounting and audit information, software and services. It has served tax,
accounting and business professionals since 1913. CCH is based in Riverwoods,
Ill. Wolters Kluwer is a leading global information services and publishing
company. Visit http://www.wolterskluwer.com for information about our market
positions, customers, brands, and organization.

SOURCE CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business

Neil Allen, +1-847-267-2179, neil.allen@wolterskluwer.com, or Leslie Bonacum,
+1-847-267-7153, mediahelp@cch.com, both of CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business