Mddle class earning up to $280,000 ( $350,000 couples)
The middle class escape new healthcare taxes on individuals earning $280,000 and up and couples earning more than $350,000.
-- Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York, Chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.
But emerging from daylong committee negotiations Friday, Mr. Rangel said the income surtax would take effect in 2011 and begin at 1 percent of adjusted gross income -- earnings before deductions like those for mortgage interest and charitable contributions -- and would apply to individuals earning more than $280,000 and couples earning more than $350,000.
The surtax would be increased for individuals earning more than $400,000 and couples earning more than $500,000, and step up again for individuals earning over $800,000 and couples earning above $1 million. The precise extent of these increases has not been announced.
Mr. Rangel's committee is also planning to insert language that would raise the surtax in 2013 if expected cost savings in the health care system do not materialize.
Health / Health Care Policy
Leaders in House Seek to Tax Rich for Health Plan
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Published: July 11, 2009
The proposal, a clear expression of Democrats' perceived mandate, calls for a surtax on individuals earning at least $280,000, but it faces hurdles in both chambers of Congress.