Citizens for Tax Justice, Health Care for America Now & SEIU Unveil Proposals to pay for healthcare reforms without creating excessive burdens of families & business

Washington, DC - Today Citizens for Tax Justice joined Health Care for America Now and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to unveil a report outlining an array of revenue options that can provide the necessary funds to implement President Obama's proposals to reform healthcare. The report describes progressive revenue options to fund health care reform and the amount of revenue they are likely to raise.

"Some claim that funding health care reform will require new burdens on ordinary Americans. But there are better, fairer alternatives. They involve reducing tax subsidies in the federal tax code to the wealthiest and most powerful among us," stated Robert S. McIntyre, Director, Citizens for Tax Justice. "After propping up major corporations and their CEOs and shareholders, Congress might find it reasonable to make the following deal. Main Street is paying to make Wall Street healthy. Wall Street, when it is healthy, will return the favor."

Crushing healthcare costs have made it impossible to strengthen our economy, with families and businesses all struggling to make ends meet. Commonsense health care reforms require commonsense solutions that ensure the health of our population and the future of our economy. The proposals described in the report would accomplish three objectives: raise the revenue necessary to implement meaningful reform, simplify the tax code, and ensure a continued progressive structure of the federal income tax.

"Working families have made difficult sacrifices for years while their premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for healthcare climbed faster than their wages could keep up with," said Bruce Colburn, Campaign Manager for SEIU Healthcare. "The revenue options presented by Citizens for Tax Justice do not upend the current process for employees to receive healthcare from their employer like other proposals floating around Washington. These options prove it's possible to guarantee access to quality, affordable healthcare for everyone and to do it without creating an extra burden on taxpayers or our economy."

"Financing of health care rests on three pillars of shared responsibility: individuals paying based on their ability to pay; employers contributing to their employees' coverage, with assistance for small, lower-wage businesses and government raising revenues in an equitable way," said Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Manager for Health Care for America Now. "The proposals made today by Citizens for Tax Justice and the proposals made by President Obama in his budget show that the nation can readily find the revenues to provide good, affordable health care for all."

* The report is available for download at http://www.ctj.org/pdf/healthcarefinancing.pdf

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