Paige Minemyer writes in FierceHealthcare about how the House Republican tax legislation could affect healthcare providers. Among her remarks:
“Perhaps most strikingly, the bill proposes cutting a decades-old tax deduction for people with extremely high medical expenses. The deduction, which was first established in World War II, applies to people whose medical expenses make up 10 percent of their adjusted gross income.”
Tom Nickels, the American Hospital Association’s executive vice president for governmental relations and public policy, has complained that the legislation would halt hospitals’ access to financing through tax-exempt bonds and impose a 20 percent excise tax on the pay of some hospital employees.
“For many communities, tax-exempt financing, such as private activity bonds, has been a key to maintaining vital hospital services. If hospital access to tax-exempt financing is limited or eliminated, hospitals’ ability to make new investments in new technologies and renovations in the future could be challenged.”
Provisions in the bill could benefit for-profit hospitals — e.g., the bill would slash the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent (not including the loopholes that now let many companies pay a much lower rate than 35 percent).
To read her article, please hit this link.
