Obama's Prescription for Low-Wage Workers: High Implicit Taxes, Higher Premiums

ObamaCare would impose higher implicit marginal tax-rates on lower- and middle-class workers than on millionaires, thereby penalizing work and providing a barrier to upward mobility.  Under the Senate bill (which, along with the Reconciliation Act, became law) those making $14,560, who make another $560, would be $200 worse off than if they hadn’t made that extra money at all; those making $12,000 would pay implicit marginal tax-rates of 66 percent on the next $5,000 earned; and people who make between $30,000 and $100,000 would pay implicit marginal tax rates of over 50 percent.  Disincentives for work would be coupled with rewards for dropping insurance, as those who drop insurance, picking it up again only when sick or injured, could save as much as $8,000 a year.