‘The next crisis’: Up to 43 million Americans could lose health insurance due to the pandemic
"As Coronavirus Deepens Inequality, Inequality Worsens Its Spread "This is where Nick Hanauer comes back in "Burying Supply-Side Once and for All"""
Published 5 hours ago on May 10, 2020
By Common Dreams - Commentary
Medicare for All advocates on Sunday pointed to the latest study on the looming health insurance crisis already becoming apparent amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to job losses for more than 33 million people in the past two months.
Analysts project that 43 million Americans could lose their insurance when the unemployment rate hits 20%. According to .. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/08/most-cataclysmic-jobs-report-our-lifetime-shows-us-unemployment-soaring-level-not .. the Department of Labor, the current unemployment rate is 14.7%. Some economists estimate that between 19% and 23.6% of Americans are actually out of a job, including those who lost their jobs in the last two weeks and those who have not filed for jobless claims.
[...]
Of the Americans who lose insurance due to layoffs or furloughs, RWJF and the Urban Institute, an estimated seven million will remain uninsured—unable to access healthcare through Medicaid or COBRA, the law which allows Americans to pay for the health insurance they had through their previous employer—which can cost hundreds of dollars per month for individual coverage.
With millions expected to join the more than 27 million Americans who were uninsured before the pandemic, the RWJF and the Urban Institute raised concerns that many will avoid medical attention if they begin showing symptoms of the coronavirus, raising the risk of spreading the illness in their communities and making it more difficult for the country as a whole to combat the pandemic.
12yearplan, There have been many minds driving the trend to more inequality and less mobility over the last 50 years. That's a good summary article re those trends, and of course Trump is, as per his actions all his working life, screwing the ordinary guy further. Two recent ones .. with others, including - Here’s the right lesson liberals should learn from Scandinavian ‘socialism’ .. https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=150743282
Deal Reached in N.J. for ‘Millionaires Tax’ to Address Fiscal Crisis
"As Coronavirus Deepens Inequality, Inequality Worsens Its Spread "This is where Nick Hanauer comes back in "Burying Supply-Side Once and for All""
Gov. Philip D. Murphy had been unable to win support from fellow Democratic leaders for a higher tax on the wealthy. Noah K. Murray/Associated Press
By Tracey Tully
Sept. 17, 2020Updated 6:35 p.m. ET
New Jersey officials agreed on Thursday to make the state one of the first to adopt a so-called millionaires tax to alleviate shortfalls caused by the pandemic, intensifying a national debate over whether to increase taxes on the rich to help address widening income gaps.
Gov. Philip D. Murphy, a Democrat, announced a deal with legislative leaders to increase state taxes on income over $1 million by nearly 2 percentage points, giving New Jersey one of the highest state tax rates .. https://www.taxadmin.org/assets/docs/Research/Rates/ind_inc.pdf .. on wealthy people in the country. The agreement also includes an annual rebate of as much as $500 for families making less than $150,000.
“We do not hold any grudge at all against those who have been successful in life,” said Mr. Murphy, a former executive at the investment bank Goldman Sachs. “But in this unprecedented time, when so many middle-class families and others have sacrificed so much, now is the time to ensure that the wealthiest among us are also called to sacrifice.”
[Insert: Past years of lowering tax rates on top income earners worldwide (including on large wealthy corporations) has been one of the greatest mismanagement farces of recent times.]
With no signs of a breakthrough, state leaders, including Mr. Murphy and New York’s governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, who is also a Democrat, have repeatedly stressed the urgent need for federal relief.
The new tax in New Jersey, the nation’s second wealthiest state, is expected to generate an estimated $390 million this fiscal year; 16,491 New Jersey residents and 19,128 nonresident taxpayers will now pay the higher rate, state officials said.
In Albany, where Democrats also control all branches of government, progressives have been pushing Mr. Cuomo to consider a variety of bills, including one to raise the tax rate on those earning more than $100 million to almost 12 percent.
With every call for a new tax comes criticism from Republicans and some business leaders who warn that higher taxes will lead to an exodus of affluent residents, draining revenue needed to pay for basic services like education and health care.
[What else from the crowd most of whom care more for their cosmetics and swimming pools than about the social well-being of the nation.]
Mr. Cuomo’s budget director, Robert Mujica, noted on Thursday that the “overwhelming majority” of billionaires and millionaires in the state live in New York City, and are already subject to a combined city and state tax rate of 12.6 percent.
[12.6%, wow. What rate do the middle class pay?]
“Let’s make sure the discussions are informed,” Mr. Mujica said in a statement.
The issue of requiring higher earners to pay more was a central theme during the Democratic presidential primary, and has also emerged as an issue in November’s election.
Last month, Mr. Murphy proposed giving children born into families earning less than $131,000 a $1,000 nest egg .. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/nyregion/baby-bond-nj.html — a so-called baby bond — to use when they turn 18 as a small step toward narrowing the wealth gap in New Jersey. That proposal, which would cost about $80 million a year, has failed to gain traction during negotiations over the state budget, which is due Oct. 1.
In New Jersey, the millionaires tax was an initiative the Democrat-led legislature had symbolically approved for years before Mr. Murphy took office .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/nyregion/governor-murphy-new-jersey.html .. in 2018, knowing that it would never be signed into law by Chris Christie, then the Republican governor.
But Mr. Murphy, a self-avowed progressive who arrived in Trenton with few legislative allies, had been unable to win support for a millionaires tax from fellow Democrats who control the Legislature — the powerful Senate president, Stephen M. Sweeney, a political rival, or the Assembly leader, Craig J. Coughlin.
Until now.
Facing a fiscal crisis brought on by the urgent health needs of the pandemic and the monthslong shutdown of businesses, lawmakers agreed to raise the tax rate on earnings over $1 million to 10.75 percent, up from 8.97 percent. Individuals earning more than $5 million were already taxed at the higher rate.
The agreement is also a tacit acknowledgment of Mr. Murphy’s approval ratings, which were 67 percent .. https://view2.fdu.edu/publicmind/2020/200716/index.html .. in a June poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University based on a generally positive view of his handling of the pandemic.
Hetty Rosenstein, an ally of Mr. Murphy and the state director for the Communications Workers of America, a major public-sector union, applauded the new tax as a “progressive approach to raising revenue and funding services.”
Brandon McKoy, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective, a liberal-leaning research group, said the state was right to avoid steep spending cuts.
“Calling on the state’s wealthiest residents to help fund New Jersey’s pandemic recovery is both smart and just policy, especially now during an economic downturn that has disproportionately harmed low-paid workers and communities of color,” Mr. McKoy said in a statement.
But others say the tax hike may wind up hurting New Jersey.
John Boyd, who helps run the Boyd Company in Princeton, N.J., which advises corporations on where to relocate businesses, said the millionaires tax represents a missed opportunity for New Jersey at a time when corporations and retail chains .. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/nyregion/nyc-economy-chain-stores.html .. with offices in Manhattan are mulling an exit strategy.
But a tax climate inhospitable to high earners hurts New Jersey’s chances to lure new companies, Mr. Boyd said, and increases the risk that affluent residents will decide to flee.
“This decision by New Jersey is being applauded in Florida, in the Carolinas and in Texas today,” he said.
The $500 rebate, a compromise sought by Mr. Coughlin, is expected to cost about $340 million a year. An estimated 800,000 households will be eligible for the rebate, which applies to families with at least one child and an annual income of less than $150,000 a year for couples and $75,000 for single parents.
The millionaires tax is part of a nine-month, $32.4 billion spending plan that the state must adopt by the end of this month. By law, the state has to enact a balanced budget and not spend more money than it receives. The proposed budget Mr. Murphy released last month also included about $1.2 billion in spending cuts and $4 billion in new bonding debt.
The tax deal was quickly criticized by the state Republican Party.
“Blink and you’ll miss the next Trenton tax hike,” the state’s Republican chairman, Doug Steinhardt, said in a statement. “That’s how fast Phil Murphy and his Democrats are spending your money.”
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