Republican Assemblyman Rick Keene submitted the healthcare proposal from Governor Schwarzenegger to the independent Legislative Counsel for an opinion on whether the charges proposed by the Governor on employers, hospitals and surgeons are a tax increase as defined by the California Constitution.
Undoubtedly Keene had to submit this question to the Counsel’s office because the Governor, who campaigned with an iron-clad promise that he would never ever raise taxes, has been characterizing these charges as "fees" — arguing that that there is a ‘hidden tax’ on Californians (the ‘cost’ of covering uninsured Californians) and therefore these charges, because they are part of a plan that purports to reduce this ‘burden’ on all of us, is a fee and not a tax.
What are the charges? Increased payroll taxes, and increased income taxes on hospitals and doctors!
Well, it comes as no surprise that the Legislative Counsel has made it very clear that, "…the provider contribution that would be imposed pursuant to the proposal would not constitute a fee and, as a result, would be characterized as a tax…" — but don’t take my word for it, I have reprinted two excerpts from the opinion below, and have attached a .pdf of the full opinion for your personal review.
FR readers understand, I am sure, the important distinction here as a tax increase requires a 2/3 vote of both houses of the legislature, where a fee increase does not.
What happens now? I am sure that the debate over how to achieve the goal of more Californians having health care insurance will go on, but perhaps there will be a little more honesty in the debate.
The Governor has made it clear that he wants a ‘bipartisan’ plan implemented. But this ruling is welcome news because as we saw last year, the Governor is perfectly comfortable defining ‘bipartisan’ as all of the Democrats… and himself.
What would be especially meaningful now would be if the Governor were to hold a press conference, and much in the same way that he apologized for the entire 2005 special election (a noble effort for which his apology was misplaced), he should apologize to Californians for proposing a tax increase, in violation of his pledge, and take it off of the table.
We’ll let FR readers know if that happens… But don’t cancel any of your other plans.
In the meantime, a the focus of our debate in California on health care should be centered around identifying the specific group of people without insurance coverage, and then developing market-based solutions on how to lessen that number. The Governor should remember that Democrats have as a goal to make health-care a ‘right’ in this state, and have it provided by government. And they will be happy to make any strides in that direction that the Governor is willing to make…
FROM THE LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL OPINION
Quoting the last paragraph starting on page 5 of the opinion:
Finally, concluding on page 11 of the opinion, the Legislative Counsel says:
You can download the entire opinion, from which these excerpts were taken, by clicking on it below.
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