Political Quotes

“Let me, if I might, explore this a little further with the Senator from New Hampshire and follow up with a question that the Senator from Texas asked. As I understand this then, the Cadillac tax provisions that were in the Senate bill--and that bill is now over in the House and going to be voted on--because of the changes that have been proposed to it now, it would delay the implementation of the Cadillac tax. Of course, the Cadillac tax, as the Senator from New Hampshire explained, would cap the amount of health care benefits that would be tax free, essentially, so above and beyond that would then become taxable. There is an assumption made that there would be a shift from health care benefits from employers to cash compensation, which would be taxable and generate more payroll tax revenues. That was the Senate bill as it passed here. The additions or modifications that are being considered in the House would delay the implementation date. Therefore, there is a lot of payroll tax revenue that would be coming in under Social Security that would no longer be realized or at least not be realized until the year 2018, which affects the amount of revenue that would be coming in under the Senate-passed bill, if these changes are adopted. As I understand what the Senator from New Hampshire is saying, that will impact Social Security revenues.”