http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/arti
cles/2007/04/26/standing_up_for_fairness_on_business_tax_ref
orm/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+–+Op-ed+columns
Standing up for fairness on business tax reform
By Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist | April 26, 2007
HOUSE SPEAKER Salvatore DiMasi is at his best when he stands up for fairness.
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When Beacon Hill took up healthcare reform, DiMasi insisted business must share the cost of expanding coverage to the uninsured. He did it, he said, because it wasn’t fair to force taxpayers to cover for employers who refused to cover medical costs for their employees.
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Argh!
Doesn’t the author realize who is using force here? It’s the gooferment. Maybe it’s the writer’s gooferment education kicking in, but first the gooferment causes a problem and then they rush in to “fix” it. And, in the process cause more problems.
:-)
“Benefits” came about as a result of the WW2 Wage and Price controls.
Business don’t “give” benefits, they pay for them. Pay dearly.
Business never “pay for” anything. They are really artificial constructs to pass stuff along. The business passes a cost along to a buyer, a supplier, or an employee. EITHER they earn a profit based on doing this or they go out of business.
So let’s examine “benefits”.
Having had my own business, and probably will again in the future, (after all no one hire OLD people anymore), what an employee earns is only a part of their total compensation. If a business “gives” the employee “benefits”, they could pay them less in salary. Don’t forget the “employer’s share of social security”! That comes out of the employees total comp too. If I’m an employer with something that needs doing, I include the cost of the labor. That cost is loaded with what it costs me; not what they employee’s check says.
Also, since the Taxachusetts mandatory health benefit will be a tax on business, who will pay it? Not who writes the check, but who going to get less? Think of it like a balloon. Hold it tight and push on one side. It expands on the other side. Like conservation of momentum! The business just passes stuff along. So, if the business has to pay more, who is going to pay more or get less? It’s truly a zero sum game.
When business have no way to pass along a cost (i.e., the market won’t pay more for their product, suppliers won’t charge less, or employees won’t work for less), they close up shop. No margin; no mission.
I wonder how the politicians will NEXT fix the “economy” or the “unemployment problem”?
Reinke Faces Life 