17 Democratic senators:

17 Democratic senators: Stop these new ObamaCare taxes!

Published by: Dan Calabrese on Thursday December 13th, 2012

By DAN CALABRESE - Never mind that we voted for them.

Per my Michigan View/Detroit News editor Henry Payne, Democrats are shocked - shocked! - to discover that ObamaCare creates new taxes, and furthermore, that these new taxes will actually have a negative effect on those who are stuck paying them (not to mention their customers).

This is both rolling-on-the-floor hilarious and troubling as hell:

Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow has suddenly noticed - THREE YEARS after she approved Obamacare - that the act punishes medical device-makers with job-killing taxes.

Michigan's junior senator joined 17 other Democratic U.S. Senators and senators-elect in signing a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last week calling for a "delay in the implementation" of the medical device tax in Obamacare, reports the Wall Street Journal.

We're not making this up. Republican and small businesses have been screaming about the 2.3 percent excise tax - effecting companies like Michigan-based, Stabenow-constituent Stryker (not that you would know reading the press) which has laid off 5 percent of its workers to compensate for its $100M tax bill in 2013.

"The medical technology industry directly employs over 400,000 people in the United States. . . . (The) industry has received little guidance about how to comply with the tax - causing significant uncertainty and confusion for businesses," reads Stabenow's letter. "We urge you to support delaying enactment of this provision in a fiscally responsible manner."

Here's a question: Remember how we were told that ObamaCare would reduce the deficit, since all the new taxes (sorry, "revenues") would more than offset the costs? You don't suppose anyone would freak out over the actual implementation of such measures and demand changes, delays, postponements . . . do you ?

This is why you can't trust these "over 10 years" projections that come out of Washington concerning deficit-reduction or the cost of any particular new spending plan. They always assume things that they know will not happen. For instance, Obama's long-term projections assume three things: 1) the expiration of his payroll tax cut; 2) unemployment benefits that expire on their normal schedule; and 3) no doc fix for Medicare providers. In reality, Obama will not only favor but demand that the payroll tax and the unemployment benefits be extended. He will sign a doc fix bill because he always does, and that will add to the cost of both Medicare and ObamaCare.

Oh, and his long-term projections also assume the expiration of all Bush tax cuts, even though he says he wants to extend them for people who make under $250,000.

So why should the sudden Democratic freakout over the medical device tax surprise anyone? Vote for the creation of a new tax when implementation is years away, then beg for a delay when the day arrives and call yourself a hero to your constituents. As long as the media lets you get away with it, why not?