UAW chief to fight 'Cadillac tax'
United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger told reporters he will be in meetings today and Thursday in Washington to fight the so-called "Cadillac tax" on more expensive employer-sponsored health care plans.
The Senate health care bill has a new tax on high-cost, employer-sponsored insurance policies, which has been dubbed the "Cadillac tax." The measure wasn't in the House version of the bill. Now, the two chambers are trying to reach a compromise.
President Barack Obama supports the 40 percent annual tax on individual health plans worth more than $8,500, and above $23,000 for families. "Our people are researching it now," Gettelfinger told reporters on the sidelines of the North American International Auto Show.
The White House defended the president's support of the tax.
Obama "supported the Senate bill and that provision was in that bill for what it does in terms of changing the direction of health care costs," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday.
The White House said the tax would raise nearly $150 billion in revenue over 10 years to help pay for health care reform.
Still, Gettelfinger says he wants the tax eliminated -- or at the very least an increase in the minimum level that would be taxed.
When you lose the UAW on your prized piece of legislation to mess with 16% of the US economy supposedly to help your political base, you know you're doing it wrong. Not to mention further aggravating the UAW by calling it a Cadillac tax - again hammering the domestics. Obama should been more UAW-savvy and called it a Lexus tax.
Of course the UAW has fought for and received for its members benefits far beyond Cadillac health care plans for its members. The UAW's Cadillac is a big part of the reason why there's no more Pontiac.
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