KHI News Service
TOPEKA, Jan. 24 – Three of the four Kansas congressmen said they oppose the president’s plan to tax health insurance premiums, which was briefly spelled out in
his State of the Union speech Monday night.
The president’s proposal would allow a federal tax deduction of $7,500 for individuals and $15,000 for families who purchase insurance on their own or through their employer. But it would pay for those deductions by imposing an income tax on those with employer-sponsored plans worth more than the allowable deduction for individuals and families.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda, a freshman Democrat who represents the state’s 2nd Congressional District, has said that helping the estimated 47 million Americans who lack health insurance gain access to coverage is among her top priorities. But she said in an interview with Kansas Public Radio that she opposes the tax increase component of the president’s proposal.
“It’s just a very wrong way to go about trying to solve this problem,” Boyda said.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, who represents the 3rd district, told KPR the proposal wouldn’t help make insurance more affordable to low-income Americans.
“That’s not going to benefit the people who don’t make the money to take tax deductions,” Moore said.
Republican U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt of the 4th
district
applauded the president for addressing the issue of the uninsured, but said he also opposed the proposal.
“While I do not support tax increases in order to do so, this is the discussion we need to be having in Congress,” Tiahrt told the Associated Press.