NOT THE SHARPEST KNIVES IN THE DRAWER: There’s No Such Thing As Free Healthcare
In an op-ed, OpinionJournal.com explains how a "free" health care plan covering all state residents up to age 65 passed by the Dem-controlled Wisconsin Senate would end up costing employers and families big bucks:
The plan would cost an estimated $15.2 billion, or $3 billion more than the state currently collects in all income, sales and corporate income taxes. …
Employees and businesses would pay for the plan by sharing the cost of a new 14.5% employment tax on wages. Wisconsin businesses would have to compete with out-of-state businesses and foreign rivals while shouldering a 29.8% combined federal-state payroll tax, nearly double the 15.3% payroll tax paid by non-Wisconsin firms for Social Security and Medicare combined. …
In all, the tax burden in the Badger State could rise to 20% of family income, which is slightly more than the average federal tax burden. …
One reason to expect costs to soar is that the state may become a mecca for the unemployed, uninsured and sick from all over North America. The legislation doesn't require that you have a job in Wisconsin to qualify, merely that you live in the state for at least 12 months. Cheesehead nation could expect to attract health-care free-riders while losing productive workers who leave for less-taxing climes.
To get this "free" healthcare, each WI worker will pay an average of $510 a month more in taxes – that’s more than $12,000 a year per family, if both spouses work. Fortunately, sanity prevailed and the WI House – which is in Republican control - voted against the Senate’s Sicko plan.
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